"It's hard to believe we could read anything on the old images," Dr. Dana said as she compared Aldo's 2016 radiograph to the clearer imaging taken with the clinic's new machine. Aldo was in the middle of his annual health exam at The Raptor Center and our veterinarian wanted to check for signs of aging as he approaches his senior years. She pointed out his old injuries and the small fat deposits that indicated that he was a perfect weight for winter weather. She luckily didn't find any major issues during the exam.
On the crisp new radiograph, I noticed a section near his spine that had a different sponge-like texture. "What is that?" I asked. "Those are his lungs," Dr. Dana said. She briefly explained that bird lungs have a honeycomb-like structure and don't expand and contract as ours do. My eyes followed her finger as she traced his airway down the trachea, into air sacs, then through the lungs and another set of air sacs before coming back up the trachea.
I seemed to remember something unique about avian respiration from my Animal Physiology course in college, so I cracked open my old textbook when I got home to fill in the gaps in my memory. Their breathing system is fascinating and easiest to explain with some visuals:
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