Appearance and Digestive System Comparison of Lonchura Striata and Copsychus Saularis: Searching for the Effect of Staple Feeding Ingredients on Avian Morphology

ABSTRACT This study explores the differences of appearance and the digestive systems of two birds (Lonchura striata and Copsychus saularis), which have the same eating pattern in staple ingredients. Each bird was caught naturally and euthanized in appropriate manner, followed by morphology survey on bill, duodenum, jejunum, ileum and appearance of the body parts such as Culmen, Claw, Wing, Tarsus, Toe and Tail. The results showed that the appearance feature between them presented significant differences in the beak length, wing length and tail length, which were correlated to their staple feeding habits. In addition, in the digestive system, the length of duodenum and duodenal indexes showed significant differences (p