Quails in Space!?

[SailingAgape]

I was just shown a clip that appears to be from a BBC documentary that shows Cosmonauts raising Coturnix on the Mir space station!

1) Why have I not seen this before?

2) Does anybody have any more info on it?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If there's artificial gravity it could be possible. Birds need gravity to swallow so without it they wouldn't last long. However eggs might be different.

 

[SailingAgape]

Apparently they were fed a food and water paste to counter not being able to swallow water in space.

Sadly, it sounds like multiple experiments mostly proved that Coturnix do not enjoy space, at all. However, a Coturnix chick was apparently the first vertebrate hatched in space.

It also sounds like they had a fairly high deformity rate and chicks returned to earth did not survive very long.

Adult quail that spent a period aboard the space station developed what basically sounds like atrophy in their reproductive organs and had no desire to mate while in space. Upon returning to earth, they exhibited awkward postures for a while do to not being used to Earth's gravity anymore. They did however recover and the females were able to successfully mate back on the ground.

 

[mdees88]

It also sounds like they had a fairly high deformity rate and chicks returned to earth did not survive very long.

If they calibrated their thermometer/hygrometer they would probably get better results....

 

[Quailerino]

FASCINATING! Thanks for sharing this!