Note the warm earth tones blended skillfully with pastels in the low frequency range to give the art a feeling of warmth, comfort and satisfaction. The content integrates with many of the human senses.
Many European art critics feel this piece has a musical affiliation and was originally titled "Third Movement".
(Hint - That is not a grill. It's the wire floor of the Chicken coop).
(Another piece in the Chicken-Art series).
Scientists solve half-cock chicken mystery
ReplyDeleteHalf and half chicken reflected in mirror
The left, white, side of this bird is male. The right, brown, side is female.
By Huw Williams
BBC Scotland reporter
Researchers say they've solved the mystery of why some chickens hatch out half-male and half-female.
About one in every 10,000 chickens is gynandromorphous, to use the technical term.
Half and half chicken
Half-and-half chickens give a unique insight into how birds develop
In medieval times, they might have been burned at the stake, as witches' familiars.
But now these chickens are shedding important new light on how birds, and perhaps reptiles, develop.
It used to be thought that hormones instructed cells to develop in male or female-specific ways.
That's what happens in mammals, including humans, and it leads to secondary sexual characteristics like facial hair for men or breasts for women.
But scientists at the Roslin Institute and the University of Edinburgh say they have discovered that bird cells don't need to be programmed by hormones.
Instead they are inherently male or female, and remain so even if they end up mixed together in the same chicken.
It means a half-and-half chicken will have totally different plumage, body shape, and muscle structure on the two halves of its body.
It even affects the wattles on the bird's head, and the spurs on its legs. They will be larger on the cockerel half, and smaller on the hen half, of the same bird.
Practical uses
Dr Michael Clinton of the Roslin Institute led the research, which has just been published in the scientific journal Nature.
He said the findings were a surprise.
Dr Clinton explained: "We looked at these birds initially expecting them not to be half-male and half-female. We thought there'd be a mutation on one side of the body.
Dr Michael Clinton
Dr Michael Clinton of the Roslin Institute led the research
"But we found that they were half-male and half-female and that's what actually showed us that the system was different in birds and mammals."
And researchers tested their theory with delicate and demanding experiments.
"If you put female cells into a male body they'll develop into the normal tissues, but they'll behave as female cells," Dr Clinton said.
The hope is that these findings might have immediate practical uses for the poultry industry.
Dr Clinton said: "If we can understand what the differences between the male and female identities are, then we can imagine making female birds with the same growth characteristics as males. That would increase productivity, and food security."
But if there are vestiges of the same mechanism in mammals, inherited from our reptilian evolutionary ancestors, then the research could help to answer long-standing mysteries of human health.
Like, for example, why women live longer than men, or why men are more at risk of heart attacks.
"But that will require much more investigation," Dr Clinton insisted.
I can't say that I understood all of that, including the research piece, but what I do understand is interesting. But it's also a little creepy, in that it reminds me of the genetic "testing" Dr. Josef Mingele attempted in the death camps in Germany and Poland. Of course, it's a bit of a leap between chickens and humans, but it smacks of cloning to me.
ReplyDeleteI so did not need to see this again, and not right away in the morning before breakfast! Bert, no corn in your rations today!!
ReplyDeleteI feel this is wrong. There's a reason males and females are made differently and grow differently. We need to appreciate and work with the characteristics of each gender, not modify them so we can get more food out of an animal that is not meant for that naturally.
ReplyDeleteBill - Now if there was an explanation of why Chickens don't pee...lol (the pasty white stuff is the equivalent to pee, urates)
ReplyDeleteI do know that if a flock of chickens loses it's rooster, one of the hens will take over and act as the rooster and even crow like a rooster (A transvestite hen?).
lowercase - It seems that animals tend to have a bit more of a problem with gender than do humans. Common amongst all species I guess?
Chickie - You're right, I suppose I should have given a "Viewer discretion warning"? (HOWEVER, that's why I blurred the picture and enhanced it a bit to make it less graphic.. ?
Chickie - Hard to say... sometimes nature goes astray in weird ways and not even the birds know what to do.
laffs again........
ReplyDeleteWhy is it I'm forever humming "Too much time on my hands", when I exit your page?
ReplyDeleteI knew exactly what it was even with the blurs, because you've posted it elsewhere before :P
ReplyDeleteNow I know where I've seen you before! You tried to sell me that bridge didnt you!!!
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, your words here about the art itself are entirely seductive.
chickie - Yes... some while ago, now it's recycled poop.
ReplyDeletelover - I'm trying to imitate the text that's written next to artwork in museums and art galleries, you know, that stuff that sounds like it really says nothing at all...???
Go back and see other recently posted of Bert's Chicken-art for more useless art narrative (That's an artform in itself), it could even make you smile ? ?
laurie - ? It doesn't take too much time to draw and write and write about poop. ?? I've got ten-gazillion other even more useless things to blog about... just not enough time.
ReplyDeletesorry the photos didn't transfer with the article...the birds are quite striking with one side brown (mostly) and the other mostly white right down the middle of the birds..
ReplyDeletebill - Ah... now it makes more sense... I thought it was kinda theoritical.. Real pictures? ... Yes, I googled it and found the article, complete with pictures. I had no idea...never seen that before, although I've seen some very strange patterns on Chickens. Thanks.
ReplyDeletechuckles and clucks to all! no matter what your sexual preferences...ha ha
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ReplyDeletebill - yes, It seems that female and male chicken poop looks pretty much the same...?
which leads us to believe that sex is inconsequential
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ReplyDeleteBill - If you mean the M/F kind of sex..yes, otherwise...no...lol
What's in the name? That which quacks like a duck, swims like a duck & pretty much looks & smells like a duck, You can be more than sure it is a Duck! Now M/F? Poop is pretty much the same!
ReplyDeleteI defy anyone to tell the difference between chicken poop & duck poop! Or Male or Female!
Duchamp - by golly, that's true of humans too..... (I suppose, never checked).
ReplyDeleteI love it
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ReplyDelete7jewel - Idea... you can print it and frame it and hang it in your dining room...? ? ? (well maybe in the bathroom?).
It's definitely a living room/ reading room picture. Thanks!
ReplyDeletescience has shown us that same sex relationships as well as opposite sex relationships are not limited to humans but occur in all species...so much for human morality..just as Lao Tzu said, " the rain falls on saints and sinners' it is not prejudiced..
ReplyDelete7jewel - Gosh... I'd be pleased to find in hanging anywhere, even in the furnace room or garage.
ReplyDeletebillpark- No wonder we're so screwed up...
Also (Not quite the same but similar)... Earthquakes, tornado's, floods, etc kill christians, jews, muslims and atheists, etc and is not prejudiced... doesn't matter if people believe, don't believe, pray, swear, sin, without sin, etc. "all humans are created equal" (within limits).
we all chose the forum for a chance to improve our energy trip....check our Bashar and get a grip on another perspective...cheers
ReplyDeleteBill - Bashar=goodstuff. We are made up of the atoms of the universe and when we die that still will be true. Nothing enters or leaves the universe, just changes form from time to time.
ReplyDeleteAmazing how this started from a picture of Chicken fertilizer...?? lol.
Glad you like the bashar stuff..while he doesn't get into chicken per se it is all relative.. we create the forum that works for us...
ReplyDeletebill - Hmmm, never heard of Jidori chickens. but then... Seems I only know live Chickens. Mine are simply pets..that lay eggs. I know very little about the various breeds, etc. Interesting article though.
ReplyDeletei like chickens....have had many through the years...some kind of exotic...Aracauanas with different color eggs..we are back in Taiwan and I plan to buy a farm, grow bananas, make hot sauce and have a few more birds running around again..
ReplyDeleteBill - I call them my "roving lawn ornaments"... a constant source of entertainment...a variety of breeds. We have no bugs, lots of good chicken fertilizer compost (Excellent stuff) and eggs. They eat a lot of our food wastes and much of the rest goes on the compost with the Chicken fertilizer. From an ecological view, it works great.
ReplyDelete... I have one aracauana (Blue eggs). Here in Town I have to have a city issued "Chicken Permit" with approval of all my surrounding neighbors. The neighbors LOVE the Chickens, bring their kids over to visit. They tell me the love to hear Bert crow too (I keep him in the coop where he can't be heard until after 8:00am). I'm helping our Cities Animal Control Officer build a solar coop like mine.
Link to coop design
Well, I have farms up north and also in Wisconsin, and Chickens here in town, but I can tell you I don't stand a chance of having bananas here in MN. We're moving back to the MN farm soon and will of course have Chickens there... and other animals.
I use to raise sheep....had horses, cows then went to grapes...now I am a vegetarian...got tired of killing animals
ReplyDeleteBill - On my MN farm I had over 1000 animals (horses, sheep, cows, chickens, pigeons, goats, etc etc) ... never dispatched a single one, they were my buddies, my pals. On my Wisconsin farm (a fruit farm)... I had over an acre of grapes. Since I never lived there, most has slowly faded away, the apple, pear, and cherry trees and grapes are still there but near zero production (age) but I still have a few acres of blackberries and they are expanding on their own.
ReplyDeleteIt took me longer to learn compassion. glad to hear of yours....yes, blackberries are like that..I had a patch at the entrance to my ranch. The kids loved to harvest them.
ReplyDeleteBill - Unfortunately, we rarely get up to our fruit farm at the right times. We told our neighbors there to go help themselves to lots of wild aspargus, blackberries, grapes, apples, etc. so if we DO get there, they're already picked. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI love growing things. I always wanted to do tropical stuff and now is my second chance. We lived in Tawan for 5 years and I had an extensive potted garden on my roof. A lot of avacado trees, chilis, tomatoes, dragonfruit, and pomelo. This time I plan to grow a lot of hot peppers to make my own western style sauce. Chinese sauces are too sweet for my taste. I also have many guava starts, some of which I will bonzai. And yellow watermelon. I have many lettuce style flats. Chinese green veggies in this category are extensive. Now to find a farm that needs me! All of this is on the patio of our 5th floor flat in the way of my wife's laundry hanging area.
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