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Science 15 September 1989:
Vol. 245. no. 4923, pp. 1236 - 1238
DOI: 10.1126/science.245.4923.1236
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Articles

Foregut Fermentation in the Hoatzin, a Neotropical Leaf-Eating Bird

ALEJANDRO GRAJAL 1, STUART D. STRAHL 2, RODRIGO PARRA 3, MARIA GLORIA DOMINGUEZ 4, and ALFREDO NEHER 3

1 Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.
2 Wildlife Conservation International, New York Zoological Society, Bronx, NY 10460.
3 Instituto de Producción Animal, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Facultad de Agronomía, Maracay, Estado Aragua, Venezuela.
4 Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom.

The only known case of an avian digestive system with active foregut fermentation is reported for the hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), one of the world's few obligate folivorous (leaf-eating) birds. Hoatzins are one of the smallest endotherms with this form of digestion. Foregut fermentation in a flying bird may be explained by increased digestive efficiency by selection of highly fermentable and extremely patchy resources, coupled with microbial nutritional products and secondary compound detoxification. This unexpected digestive system gives a new perspective to the understanding of size limitations of vertebrate herbivores and to the evolution of foregut fermentation.

Submitted on May 19, 1989
Accepted on August 14, 1989


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Bacterial Community in the Crop of the Hoatzin, a Neotropical Folivorous Flying Bird.
F. Godoy-Vitorino, R. E. Ley, Z. Gao, Z. Pei, H. Ortiz-Zuazaga, L. R. Pericchi, M. A. Garcia-Amado, F. Michelangeli, M. J. Blaser, J. I. Gordon, et al. (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 5905-5912
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mutualistic Fermentative Digestion in the Gastrointestinal Tract: Diversity and Evolution.
R. I. Mackie (2002)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 42, 319-326
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Contributions of Microbes in Vertebrate Gastrointestinal Tract to Production and Conservation of Nutrients.
C. E. STEVENS and I. D. HUME (1998)
Physiol Rev 78, 393-427
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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