Andrew Iwaniuk
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evoneuro.bsky.social
Andrew Iwaniuk
@evoneuro.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1.8K following 1.9K posts
neurobiologist, ornithologist, scruffy looking nerfherder, social distancing since 1974, currently at U Lethbridge, Treaty 7 lands
🇨🇦 🇦🇺 stuff
open access link for our book: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/6000/Bird-Brains-and-BehaviorA-Synthesis
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evoneuro.bsky.social
We have successfully used immersion fixation for heads of Cathartes and Coragyps with the rest of the body used for skins, skeletons, and spirit specimens. I will add that for most comparative neuroanatomy an n of 3-6 is fine. Big series are only needed for sex or seasonal variation within species
Photos of extracted: top Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus); and bottom Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) brains. For each photo, white arrows point to OB (olfactory bulbs) and TeO (optic tectum).
November 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
So how can we best use museum collections for neuroanatomy research?
1. more skeletons in good quality
2. proper fixation of specimens
3. avoid long-term ethanol storage if possible.

And for more information on bird brains, check out our new book:
direct.mit.edu/books...

#BOU2025

6/6
The top of slide asks: what needs to be done to better support the use of museum specimens for neuroanatomy? Below on the left is a drawer full of bright green parrots with yellow-orange heads: Carolina parakeets. "More skeletons!" is written below the image. Below middle is a plastic container with a preserved hawk head inside with the skin and eyes removed with the caption "better tissue fixation". Below on the right is written "ethanol for fluid specimens" that is then crossed out with a bold red X.
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
Fluid specimens can be potentially be used for histology, but again long-term ethanol storage is problematic as it both dehydrates the tissue and the staining quality of tissue is poor.

#BOU2025
5/6
Four histological sections are shown through approximately the same brain regions of four different species. The first is a ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), which was perfused. The second is a Cooper's hawk (Astur cooperii) that was immersed in formaldehyde in the lab. The third is a Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) that was immersed in formaldehyde in the field. The last is a ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) that was a museum specimen. The grouse and hawk are brightly stained purplish against a white background. The woodcock is stained purplish, but not as dark as the first two. The duck brain is weakly stained purplish and appears washed out compared with the other sections. Below these images is the bullet point: extract brains from fluid specimens and use conventional histology.
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
There is the potential to use MRI on museum specimens, provided that the specimens are fresh frozen or fixed and not stored in ethanol. Long-term ethanol storage leads to too much dehydration, which makes MRI nearly impossible.

#BOU2025
4/6
The bullet point states: MRI of frozen and fixed specimens. Below on the left is a partial figure from Corfield et al. (2008) Nature Protocols 3: 597-605. The image has 6 greyscale panels of lateral and coronal views of a kiwi brain with matching histological sections with the brain tissue stained purple against a white background. Below on the right are 4 brain images and a profile view of a sulphur-crested cockatoo against a blue, cloudless sky. The top two images are greyscale images of a cockatoo brain in coronal plane. The bottom two are rainbow coloured images of coronal sections through a cockatoo brain. The different colours reflect white matter connections among brain regions.
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
CT scanning of skulls can provide some information on sensory brain regions, as well as the dimensions of the cranial nerves, for many species. However, we urge caution in the use of contrast enhanced CT scanning as it can damage specimens.

#BOU2025
3/6
At the top is a bullet point that states: CT scanning of specimens. At the bottom right is a digital reconstruction of an entire ibis skull, below which is a sagittal section taken through the entire skull showing the brain case. Below that, the brain case is filled with a reconstruction of the brain in blue. Finally there is a just a blue brain (endocast) of the ibis shown. On the right are 6 dark blue ibis endocasts with the optic lobe highlighted in green.
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
We have discovered numerous cases of changes in brain region sizes associated with differences in sensory abilities in birds, such as the expansion of LM to support self motion detection (i.e. optic flow) in hummingbirds.

But can museum specimens also be used for these studies?

#BOU2025
2/6
The top image is a photo of a mostly green hummingbird hovering in front of a plant that has many small pinkish flowers. The bottom image is a black and white photo of the lateral aspect of a hummingbird brain. Several brain regions are pointed to with solid lines: telencephalon, olfactory bulb, cerebellum, optic tectum, spinal cord, and optic nerve. One brain region is highlighted in light grey with the label: lentiform mesencephalic nucleus (LM).
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
All aspects of bird behaviour are a product of the anatomy and physiology of their brains. Brain anatomy can therefore provide new insights into bird behaviour.

Today at #BOU2025, I will discuss how museum specimens can potentially be used to study bird brains.

#ornithology #neuroskyence
1/6
A slide entitled Neuroscience at the Museum with two bullet points and three images. The first bullet point states that all behaviour is a product of the physiology and anatomy of the brain. The images below are photos of: a sharp-tailed grouse in a courtship display posture with its purple throat sacs and yellow eyebrows flared; a bright red and green king parrot perched on the back of a chair and holding a nut in its left foot that it is chewing on; and a flock of snow geese on an early morning with dozens of geese standing on a field and flying across. Below those images is the second bullet point" brain anatomy can provide novel insights into bird behavior.
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
A mute swan channelling my feelings about my various admin duties (taken today at Kensington Gardens).
#birds #birding #swans 🪶
A portrait of a mute swan who appears to be looking at me with a decidedly unimpressed expression on its face.
November 17, 2025 at 9:16 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
Made my own gin today at Portobello Rd distillery. The name is an awful pun based on the Great Auk for my fellow ornithophiles
The label of a gin bottle from the Portobello Distillery named “pinginius”
November 16, 2025 at 7:39 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
My first conference talk in a while is next week! Looking forward to seeing @thelabandfield.bsky.social and talking a bit about how we can use museum collections to study bird brains.
#ornithology 🧪🧠🇨🇦🇬🇧
A movie poster for Night at the Museum showing the back of Ben Stiller looking down a hallway with several historical characters and a T. rex looking back at him. The title of the movie poster is however changed to Neuroscience at the Museum, presented by Andrew Iwaniuk and a University of Lethbridge production.
November 13, 2025 at 2:43 AM
evoneuro.bsky.social
A downy woodpecker for #woodpeckerwednesday taken last weekend.
#Alberta #wildlife #birds #birding 🪶🇨🇦
A small black and white woodpecker with a small red patch on the back of its head is holding onto a vertical willow branch. It is looking towards its right so that its left profile is facing the camera.
November 12, 2025 at 4:43 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
A pine grosbeak on a rather dull and overcast day.
#Alberta #wildlife #birding #birds 🪶🇨🇦
A pinkish-red finch with a black beak is perched on the leafless branch of a willow tree.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
Ice starting to form on the lake and local beavers have been super busy knocking down massive poplar trees to build up their lodge for winter
#Alberta #Canada 🇨🇦
A view from the shoreline of a lake. Thin ice covers the water surface out to a reed bed. To the left is a large overhanging tree with bare leaves. Beneath it is a an elongated beaver lodge on the lake made out of a tangle of branches and logs.
November 8, 2025 at 11:48 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
The Blue Jays wedged ball is a metaphor for my life in academia
#academicsky
November 1, 2025 at 3:26 AM
evoneuro.bsky.social
We need more blue jay postings tonight 🇨🇦
#bluejays #birding #birds 🪶
A blue jay with a bright blue great, black and white face and grey chest is perched on the end of a willow stump.
October 30, 2025 at 2:58 AM
evoneuro.bsky.social
NSERC Discovery Grant submitted today. Here's hoping that the grant selection committee approves of all the different components and my research program can move into some new directions over the next 5 years!
#Canada #neuroskyence
A diffusion tensor imaging image of a sulphur-crested cockatoo brain. The background is black and the brain tissue greyish, with numerous areas highlighted in a rainbow of colours. Several lines of bright yellow-green indicate white matter tracts associated with motor connections with the basal ganglia and connections between the septum and hippocampus.
October 29, 2025 at 3:30 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
No, but they have fairy wrens. They bop around like ping pong balls.
A small, very found bird with a long erect tail is standing on grass. It has electric blue cap, cheek and nape with a black mask and throat and a light blue belly.
October 28, 2025 at 3:28 AM
evoneuro.bsky.social
Fighting the UCP today. Support our teachers!!
#abpoli #Alberta #yql
October 26, 2025 at 7:35 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
What did we find? Homing pigeons have smaller hippocampal neurons than feral pigeons. We think this might be associated with higher packing density of neurons, which could confer some advantages in spatial cognition. But more testing needed!
Fin
Black and white illustrations of 6 neurons, each of which have lots of dendrites extending from them and large, black cell bodies.
October 23, 2025 at 5:53 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
Feral and homing pigeons differ greatly in hippocampal neuron density, so we asked, are there are also differences in neuron size and morphology. We used high resolution slide scanning of Golgi stained sections and digitally reconstructed neurons from both breeds.
A figure from a paper that has 5 panels. The first panel is a cartoon of a pigeon with a large circle next to it within which is a stained half brain on the right and a line drawing schematic of a half brain on the left. The second panel is a scan of Golgi stained pigeon hippocampal formation with an arrow and dashed line demarcating the difference between dorsomedial and dorsolateral components. The third panel is a close of black stained neurons. The fourth panel is a magnified view of black stained neurons with one highlighted in purple. The last panel is a close up view of a neuronal dendrites, with lots of spines that looks like a plant root.
October 23, 2025 at 5:43 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
An American tree sparrow amid some fall foliage.
#Alberta #wildlife #birding #birds 🪶🇨🇦
A brownish sparrow with a grey and red head and bicoloured beak (dark on top, yellowish on the bottom) is perched in a tangle of branches against a background of yellow-orange leaves.
October 22, 2025 at 6:01 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
Feels like we need more blue jay postings tonight Canada.
#bluejays #birds #birding 🪶🇨🇦
A jay with a bright blue crest, blue-grey body, white face and black facial stripes is perched on the top of a broken off willow stump.
October 20, 2025 at 11:30 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
For #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Colourful I cannot go past parrots: Eastern Rosella and an Australian Ringneck
#parrots #birds #birding #WildOz 🪶
A multicoloured parrot with a red head and neck, white cheek and beak, yellow chest and belly with yellow, blue and black back shoulders and wing feathers perched on a bare branch. A mainly blue and green parrot with a yellow collar perched on a bare branch.
October 19, 2025 at 8:53 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
My #BirdOfTheDay submission for the colour black is the Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo. Taken in the Adelaide Hills, last year.
#parrots #WildOz #wildlife #birding #birds 🪶🇦🇺
A mostly black cockatoo with a yellow patch on its "ear" is perched on a bare branch against a background of a blue sky and a gum tree. It is turned slightly to one side and its crest is flat. An almost entirely black cockatoo with a silver beak and yellow ear patch is perched on a tangle of bare branches. Its crest is erect and its facial feathers fluffed outwards. The background is an out of focus tangle of branches and green leaves.
October 18, 2025 at 7:47 PM
evoneuro.bsky.social
My contribution to #BirdOfTheDay and #SkinnyLegs is a young bush stone-curlew at Holloway's Beach, Queensland 🇦🇺
#birds #birding #WildOz 🪶
An odd-looking shorebird with a thick beak, very large eyes, squat body and long, thick legs is standing next to palm on bare dirt. An irrigation hose is lying on the ground behind it.
October 16, 2025 at 10:23 PM