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Incubation: Heating the Egg

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Description: Most birds create the required temperature by sitting on their eggs but some transfer heat through their webbed feet, and the megapodes of Australia bury them in a mound of decaying vegetation.
or an egg to develop normally, it must be exposed for a considerable length of time to temperatures a few degrees below the normal 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) avian body temperature. Indeed, the ideal incubation temperature for many birds' eggs is about human body temperature, 98.6 degrees F. Almost all birds create the required temperature by sitting on the eggs and incubating them, often transferring heat via a temporarily bare area of abdominal skin called the "brood patch." A few birds, like penguins, pelicans, and gannets, transfer heat through their webbed feet. A unique form of incubation is found in the turkey-like megapodes of Australia. They heat their eggs by depositing them in a large mound of decaying vegetation, which the birds have scratched together. By opening and closing the mound as needed, the birds carefully regulate the heat of decomposition, which takes the place of the parental body heat used in normal incubation.
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activated: 04-Oct-1985
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