Subject: Re: Bird Brains
Date: Jun 5 12:31:17 1995
From: Thomas Cotner - tcotner at u.washington.edu


Teresa, Dan and Tweeterfolk,
Thanks for the posting concerning Black-capped chickadees and how they
apparently "rewire" their neurons every new season. A recent report from
that team has shown that new neurons periodically replace old ones. The
new neuronal growth is thought to be correlated with the acquisition of
spatial memory. For instance, the peak replacement period of new neurons
was in the fall, a time which evidently corresponds with a period of
increased food caching. Apparently they start over (although not
completely) in the spring. The recent reference is Barnea,A. and
Nottebohm, F. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA vol.
91 pp 11217-11221, 1994 (Nov).
Tom Cotner
tcotner at u.washington.edu

On Mon, 5 Jun 1995, Dan Stephens wrote:

> In message <2FD32AC9 at mailgate.ecy.wa.gov> writes:
> >
> > The June 1995 Natl. Geographic contains a tantalizing tidbit on bird brains
> > (not Gene and Roger:-)), specifically chickadee brains. Two researchers at
> > Rockefeller Univ. have apparently shown that chickadees grow new brain cel
> >
> > The only problem is, references to the studies are not given, only that the
> > researchers are Fernando Nottebohm and Anat Barnea.
> >
> Nottenbohm, F. 1989. From Bird Song to Neurogenesis. Scientific American Feb.
>
> there may be newer references.
>
>
> Dan Stephens (509) 662-7443
> Dept. of Biology fax: (509) 664-2538
> Wenatchee Valley College e-mail: dstephen at ctc.edu
> 1300 Fifth Street
> Wenatchee, WA 98801
>
>