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Abstract
1. Physical characteristics of eggs of the domestic guinea fowl, Numida meleagris galeata, were measured and compared with those of its wild counterpart and with other birds using allometric relationships.
2. The shell thickness increased and the area density of pores decreased from the blunt to the pointed end of the egg. During incubation, shell thickness decreased, but the shell diffusive conductance to water vapour (GH2O) remained constant.
3. Fresh egg mass (m0), length and breadth of the egg, GH2O and specific water vapour conductance, spGH2O (GH2O per g of m0 ), were affected by the age of the laying flock.
4. Eggs of the domestic guinea fowl were bigger and heavier than eggs of the wild one.
5. Allometry showed that guinea fowl eggs differ from those of the other birds by their greater shell thickness and density of pores. However spGH2O was normal, the thickness of the shell being compensated for by a greater density of pores for gas exchanges.
Notes
To whom correspondence should be sent. Present address: Centre d'Ecologie et Physiologie Energetiques, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 23 rue Becquerel, 67087 Strasbourg, France.
