Abstract
Spectrascopes are nothing really new.
They have been in use for years in medical and scientific laboratories. And yet, veterinarians do not seem at all familiar with their use. Aviculturists would do well to learn as much as they can about them for I believe they offer one of the simplest and most meaningful scientific tests that can be done on birds. Unlike most tests that require blood samples - of which birds have precious little - spectralanalysis makes use of that which birds have most of, namely feathers.
Spectral-analysis is simply the process of identifying substances through analysis of the colors or wavelengths emitted when these substances are vaporized by heating. Correctly used, it can analyze quantities too minute to be measured otherwise. Medically it can be used to measure mineral contents of the human body from practically any sample of body tissue. Hair samples are commonly used with spectralanalysis since hair follicle minerals are laid down in the hair shaft in direct proportion to the quantity of minerals absorbed by the body cells that make the hair. If someone is deficient in calcium or suffering from toxic levels of lead, it can be quickly established by analysis of hair samples. Since feathers also reflect the proportion of minerals present in the body cells that manufacture them, they work equally well with spectral-analysis.
Perhaps it would be appropriate at this point if I explained how I came to research spectral-analysis and the uses to which I have applied it. For the past three years, my wife and I have been watching our greater sulphur crested cockatoo slowly become naked from feather loss. First to go were the large quill feathers and more recently, down loss has left bald spots on his back and chest. We have visited the best vets in Chicago, New York, Richmond and our home town of Norfolk. In addition we have consulted by telephone with bird specialists in Boston and Washington D.C. No one was able to provide any solutions. The standard vitamins and hormones did not work.
Our bird's condition resembles a severe case of French moult but except for the feather loss, he is perfectly healthy. His
blood count is normal, he eats well, is active, talks exceptionally well and despite his lack of feathers, has never had a cold. He was hand raised by my wife and I while I was teaching in Australia and imported with considerable trouble to the U.S. Naturally we are very fond of him. Most frustrating to us is that while veterinarians all agree that they can do nothing for our bird, none of them has the slightest idea of what he is suffering from. As aviculturists everywhere know, medical testing for birds is severely limited or non-existent.
I was somewhat familiar with the methods of spectral-analysis from science and nutrition magazines. When 1 saw an ad for hair analysis, I wrote with a proposal to run tests on feathers. I was very surprised to receive a prompt reply from Dr. Arthur Furman of A and A Laboratory in Washington D.C. (P.O. Box 55326, Zip Code 20022) who was interested and game to experiment.
There were problems however. Since there are no established norms for mineral levels in birds, a control was necessary. For this I chose my male moluccan cockatoo, a closely related bird who is extremely healthy and also on the same diet as my sulfur crested. Also, Dr. Furman's spectrascope is connected to a computer that gives an extremely complete printout of human mineral norms. The feather results also came out on the same printout which was somewhat distracting.
The results were rather unexpected. In all 18 mineral levels tested for, the sulfur crested had considerably higher levels than the moluccan. Among toxic minerals tested for, the level of aluminum showed to be 34 parts per million for the sulfur crested and no trace at all for the rnoluccan. Usual range for humans is between 2 and 10 parts per million. 34 parts per million is considered toxic for humans. While there are no known levels of toxicity for birds that I know of, given a bird's well know susceptibility to pollutants of all types, I think it is reasonable to conclude that 34 parts per million of aluminum is also a toxic level for birds. Also present at a toxic level was cadmium, although in a much smaller amount.