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Updated: Mar 23, 2026

Dissection and Downstream Analysis of Zebra Finch Embryos at Early Stages of Development
Published on: June 21, 2014
Flying starlings, PET and the evolution of volant dinosaurs
Maria Eugenia Leone Gold1, Daniela Schulz2, Michael Budassi3
1Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; Department of Anatomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
Abstract:
Birds have evolved behavioral and morphological adaptations for powered flight. Many aspects of this transition are unknown, including the neuroanatomical changes that made flight possible [1]. To understand how the avian brain drives this complex behavior, we utilized positron emission tomography (PET) scanning and the tracer (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to document regional metabolic activity in the brain associated with a variety of locomotor behaviors. FDG studies are typically employed in rats [2] though the technology has been applied to birds [3]. We examined whole-brain function in European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), trained to fly in a wind tunnel while metabolizing the tracer. Drawing on predictions from early anatomical studies [4], we hypothesized increased metabolic activity in the Wulst and functionally related visual brain regions during flight. We found that flight behaviors correlated positively with entopallia and Wulst activity, but negatively with thalamic activity.
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