National Antivisection Society
Differences between birds and humans
Over a hundred thousand birds are used in UK laboratories each year. For example, chicks were given hormone injections, and changes in their livers were seen. The experimenters could only speculate about the causes. No practical application was suggested for this knowledge.
To study memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease, day-old chicks were trained to avoid pecking beads coated in a bitter liquid, then their brains were examined. The researchers believed changes observed might serve as a nerve map of memory formation. It is not clear how the gradual onset of Alzheimer’s in humans can compare with the memory of a day-old chick.
What a Waste
- Morphine produces a pinpoint constriction of the pupil in man - birds’ pupils are unaffected by it.
- Humans can utilise a type of vitamin D that chickens cannot
- The muscles of the inner ear of birds have a different reflex response from those of humans
- Bird embryos are significantly more resistant to radiation than human embryos.
- In birds, even after total removal of the pancreas (the organ responsible in diabetes), only a temporary diabetes is produced.
- The fat cells of chickens and geese are highly sensitive to the hormone glucagon - fowl are unique in that glucagon is essential for life.
