Domestic canary

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Domestic canary
Yellow finch 1.jpg
Domestic canary
Domesticated
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Serinus
Species:
Subspecies:
S. c. domestica
Trinomial name
Serinus canaria domestica
Synonyms

Serinus canarius domesticus [1] Linnaeus 1758, I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1861 [3]

Contents

The domestic canary, often simply known as the canary (Serinus canaria forma domestica [4] ), is a domesticated form of the wild canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating from the Macaronesian Islands of the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. [5]

Canaries were first bred in captivity in the 17th century, having been brought to Europe by Spanish sailors. Monks started breeding them and only sold the males (which sing). This kept the birds in short supply and drove the price up. Eventually, Italians obtained hens and were able to breed the birds. This made them very popular, resulting in many breeds arising, and the birds being bred all over Europe.

The same occurred in England. First the birds were only owned by the rich, but eventually the local citizens started to breed them and, again, they became very popular. Many breeds arose through selective breeding, and they are still very popular today for their voices.

From the 18th up to the 20th centuries, canaries and finches were used in the UK, Canada and the US in the coal mining industry to detect carbon monoxide. In the UK, this practice ceased in 1986. [6]

Typically, the domestic canary is kept as a popular cage and aviary bird. Given proper housing and care, a canary's lifespan ranges from 10 to 15 years. [7]

Etymology

The birds are named after Spain's Canary Islands, which derive their name from the Latin Insula Canaria (after one of the larger islands, Gran Canaria), meaning 'island of dogs', due to its "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size". [8]

Varieties

A white canary nesting Canary nesting.jpg
A white canary nesting
Feral yellow canary at Midway Atoll YellowCanary.jpg
Feral yellow canary at Midway Atoll
Red factor canary Canario photo.jpg
Red factor canary
Sleeping canary Sleeping canary.jpg
Sleeping canary

Domestic canaries are generally divided into three main groups:

While wild canaries are a yellowish-green colour, domestic canaries have been selectively bred for a wide variety of colours, such as yellow, orange, brown, black, white, and red (the colour red was introduced to the domestic canary through hybridisation with the red siskin (Spinus cucullatus), a species of South American finch). [10] Evidence of hybridization has also been found between the domestic canary (S. canaria domestica) and the black-chinned siskin (Spinus barbatus) in captivity. [11]

Midway Atoll is home to a colony of feral yellow canaries, descended from pet birds introduced in 1909 by employees of the Commercial Pacific Cable Company. [12] An estimated 500 canaries, which have retained their bright yellow plumage, are resident on Sand Island. [13]

Competitions

Canaries are judged in competitions following the annual molt in the summer. [14] This means that in the Northern Hemisphere the show season generally begins in October or November and runs through December or January. Birds can only be shown by the persons who raised them. A show bird must have a unique band on its leg indicating the year of birth, the band number, and the club to which the breeder belongs. [ citation needed ]

There are many canary shows all over the world. The world show (C.O.M. - Confederation Ornithologique Mondiale) is held in Europe each year and attracts thousands of breeders. As many as 20,000 birds are brought together for this competition.[ citation needed ]

Miner's canary

Mining foreman R. Thornburg shows a small cage with a canary used for testing carbon monoxide gas in 1928. Canary coal mine.jpg
Mining foreman R. Thornburg shows a small cage with a canary used for testing carbon monoxide gas in 1928.
Resuscitation cage with an oxygen cylinder serving as a handle used to revive a canary for multiple uses in detecting carbon monoxide pockets within mines Revival cage.jpg
Resuscitation cage with an oxygen cylinder serving as a handle used to revive a canary for multiple uses in detecting carbon monoxide pockets within mines

Mice were used as sentinel species for use in detecting carbon monoxide in British coal mining from around 1896, [15] after the idea had been suggested in 1895 by John Scott Haldane. [16] Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide or asphyxiant gases such as methane [17] in the mine would affect small warm-blooded animals before affecting the miners, since their respiratory exchange is more rapid than in humans. A mouse will be affected by carbon monoxide within a few minutes, while a human will have an interval of 20 times as long. [18] Later, canaries were found to be more sensitive and a more effective indicator as they showed more visible signs of distress. Their use in mining is documented from around 1900. [19] The birds were sometimes kept in carriers which had small oxygen bottles attached to revive them. [20] [21] The use of miners' canaries in British mines was phased out in 1986. [22] [23]

The phrase "canary in a coal mine" is frequently used to refer to a person or thing which serves as an early warning of a coming crisis. By analogy, the term "climate canary" is used to refer to a species (called an indicator species) that is affected by an environmental danger prior to other species, thus serving as an early warning system for the other species with regard to the danger. [24]

Use in research

Canaries have been extensively used in research to study neurogenesis, or the birth of new neurons in the adult brain, and also for basic research in order to understand how songbirds encode and produce song. Thus, canaries have served as model species for discovering how the vertebrate brain learns, consolidates memories, and recalls coordinated motor movements.

Fernando Nottebohm, a professor at the Rockefeller University in New York City, detailed the avian brain structures and pathways that are involved in the production of bird song. [25] [26]

Canaries are sometimes used to avoid hazardous human testing. Wasicky et al 1949 used them in early testing of insect repellents. Human testing could only provide limited sample size and the inherent variance of the host ⇔ repellent ⇔ insect interaction is too high. Canaries, among other test animals, provided larger sample sizes cheaply. [27]

In culture

In organized crime, the canary symbolizes an informant who "sings" to the police. [28]

Canaries have been depicted in cartoons from the mid-20th century as being harassed by domestic cats; the most famous cartoon canary is Warner Bros.' "Tweety".

Norwich City, an English football team, is nicknamed "the Canaries" due to the city once being a famous centre for breeding and export of the birds. The club adopted the colours of yellow and green in homage. Jacob Mackley, of Norwich, won many prizes with birds of the local variety and shipped about 10,000 from Norwich to New York every year. [29] A number of other sports teams worldwide use variations of the name "Canaries", such as Atlético Morelia (Mexico), Botev Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Frosinone (Italy), Koper (Slovenia), FC Novi Sad (Serbia), Fenerbahçe (Turkey), Lillestrøm SK (Norway), Kedah FA (Malaysia), IAPE (Maranhão, Brazil), the Brazil national football team and the Brazil women's national football team.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finch</span> Family of birds

The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not migrate. They have a worldwide native distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family Fringillidae contains more than two hundred species divided into fifty genera. It includes the canaries, siskins, redpolls, serins, grosbeaks and euphonias, as well as the morphologically divergent Hawaiian honeycreepers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic canary</span> Species of bird

The Atlantic canary, known worldwide simply as the wild canary and also called the island canary, common canary, or canary, is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Serinus in the true finch family, Fringillidae. It is native to the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira. It has two subspecies: the wild or common canary and domestic canary. Wild birds are mostly yellow-green, with brownish streaking on the back. The species is common in captivity and a number of colour varieties have been bred.

<i>Serinus</i> Genus of birds

Serinus is a genus of small birds in the finch family Fringillidae found in West Asia, Europe and Africa. The birds usually have some yellow in their plumage. The genus was introduced in 1816 by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch. Its name is Neo-Latin for "canary-yellow".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian siskin</span> Species of bird

The Eurasian siskin is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include black-headed goldfinch, barley bird and aberdevine. It is very common throughout Europe and Eurosiberia. It is found in forested areas, both coniferous and mixed woodland where it feeds on seeds of all kinds, especially of alder and conifers.

Carboxyhemoglobin is a stable complex of carbon monoxide and hemoglobin (Hb) that forms in red blood cells upon contact with carbon monoxide. Carboxyhemoglobin is often mistaken for the compound formed by the combination of carbon dioxide (carboxyl) and hemoglobin, which is actually carbaminohemoglobin. Carboxyhemoglobin terminology emerged when carbon monoxide was known by its historic name, "carbonic oxide", and evolved through Germanic and British English etymological influences; the preferred IUPAC nomenclature is carbonylhemoglobin.

Afterdamp is the toxic mixture of gases left in a mine following an explosion caused by methane-rich firedamp, which itself can initiate a much larger explosion of coal dust. The term is etymologically and practically related to other terms for underground mine gases—such as firedamp, white damp, and black damp, with afterdamp being composed, rather, primarily by carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen, with highly toxic stinkdamp-constituent hydrogen sulfide possibly also present. However, the high content of carbon monoxide is the component that kills, preferentially combining with haemoglobin in the blood and thus depriving victims of oxygen. Globally, afterdamp has caused many of the casualties in disasters of pit coalfields, including British, such as the Senghenydd colliery disaster. Such disasters continue to afflict working mines, for instance in mainland China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Scott Haldane</span> British physiologist and decompression researcher (1860–1936)

John Scott Haldane was a British physician physiologist and philosopher famous for intrepid self-experimentation which led to many important discoveries about the human body and the nature of gases. He also experimented on his son, the celebrated and polymathic biologist J. B. S. Haldane, even when he was quite young. Haldane locked himself in sealed chambers breathing potentially lethal cocktails of gases while recording their effect on his mind and body.

Canary originally referred to the island of Gran Canaria, in Spain, and the group of surrounding islands. It may also refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-bellied siskin</span> Species of bird

The yellow-bellied siskin is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It breeds from Costa Rica south to southern Ecuador, central Bolivia and the highlands of northwestern Venezuela. According to phylogenetic studies Spinus notatus is its parental ancestor.

Whitedamp is a noxious mixture of gases formed by the combustion of coal, usually in an enclosed environment such as a coal mine. The main, most toxic constituent is carbon monoxide, which causes carbon monoxide poisoning. Hydrogen sulfide, also called stinkdamp, may co-occur. Coal frequently starts to burn slowly in mines when it is exposed to the atmosphere; partial combustion produces carbon monoxide. The term is etymologically and practically related to terms for other underground mine gases such as firedamp, black damp, stink damp, and afterdamp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape canary</span> Species of bird

The Cape canary is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in southern Africa and has been introduced to Mauritius and Réunion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-crowned canary</span> Species of bird

The yellow-crowned canary is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in eastern Africa. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Cape canary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black siskin</span> Species of bird

The black siskin is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland. According to some phylogenetic studies, Spinus notata is its parental ancestor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-chinned siskin</span> Species of bird

The black-chinned siskin is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. Found in Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands, its natural habitats are temperate forests and heavily degraded former forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-faced siskin</span> Species of bird

The yellow-faced siskin is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is found in Brazil and Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentinel species</span> Organisms used to detect risks to humans

Sentinel species are organisms, often animals, used to detect risks to humans by providing advance warning of a danger. The terms primarily apply in the context of environmental hazards rather than those from other sources. Some animals can act as sentinels because they may be more susceptible or have greater exposure to a particular hazard than humans in the same environment. People have long observed animals for signs of impending hazards or evidence of environmental threats. Plants and other living organisms have also been used for these purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red factor canary</span> Breed of domestic canary

The red factor canary is a popular variety of domesticated canary, named after its colorful plumage. It is kept by those who want a pet, as well as those who enjoy showing.

Domestica may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harz Roller</span> A breed of domestic canary from the Upper Harz, Germany

Harz Roller is the name of a breed of domestic canary bred in the Upper Harz mountains of Germany. The birds were bred in the Upper Harz between Lautenthal and Sankt Andreasberg in the middle of the 19th century and achieved European-wide fame. Since 2001 there has been a Harz Roller Museum in Sankt Andreasberg.

References

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Further reading