A study reports the molecular basis of mechanosensory specialization in the duck bill, highlighting adaptations related to tactile foraging in ducks; the authors found that the embryonic duck bill contains a high density of rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors, and electrophysiological analyses indicated that duck neurons exhibited greater mechanosensitivity than those of chickens, which are visual, rather than touch-dependent, foragers.
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Article #17-08793: "Molecular basis of tactile specialization in the duck bill," by Eve Schneider et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sviatoslav Bagriantsev, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; tel: 203-737-8329; e-mail: < sviatoslav.bagriantsev@yale.edu >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences