Contact: Lee J. Siegel
lee.siegel@utah.edu
801-581-8993
University of Utah

Old Dutch Capuchine Pigeon with Mane Crest

Caption: This is a rock pigeon of the breed old Dutch capuchine, which has a kind of head crest known as a mane. More than 80 breeds out of some 350 breeds of rock pigeon have head crests, which form when head and neck feathers grow upward instead of downward. Scientists from the University of Utah, BGI-Shenzen in China and other institutions decoded the genome or genetic blueprint of the rock pigeon, then found that a single gene mutation linked to the head crest trait.

Credit: Michael D. Shapiro, University of Utah.

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