Comparative study of the photopic spectral sensitivity of domestic ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus), turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo) and humans

Abstract

1. The photopic spectral sensitivity of domestic ducks and turkeys was determined using an operant psychophysical technique. Spectral sensitivity was determined over a range of specified wavelengths, including UV_A, between 326 < λ < 694 nm and the results were directly compared with human spectral sensitivity measured under similar experimental conditions.

2. Domestic ducks and turkeys had similar spectral sensitivities to each other, and could perceive UV_A radiation, although turkeys were more sensitive to UV_A than ducks. For both species, peak sensitivity was between 544 < λ < 577 nm, with reduced sensitivity at λ = 508 and 600 nm. Both ducks and turkeys had a very different and broader range of spectral sensitivity than the human subjects tested.

3. Spectral sensitivity and UV_A perception in these avian species are discussed in relation to their visual ecology and the mechanisms controlling neural processing of colour information.

Acknowledgements

C.L. Barber was funded through a BBSRC CASE studentship in collaboration with the RSPCA, and a bursary from the Worshipful Company of Poulter's Charitable Trust. Additional funding was provided through Silsoe Research Institute's Competitive Strategic Grant from the BBSRC. We are grateful to Cherry Valley Farms Ltd (Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, UK) and Bernard Matthews Foods Ltd (Norwich, Norfolk, UK) for kindly providing the ducklings and turkey poults for this study.