Ask Lafeber

Parrot egg development

does parrots have diapause phase in embryonic development?

Hi Antonio,

Here is the response from Dr. Lamb: Technically diapause is a mammalian thing. Basically after an egg is fertilized it is supposed to implant on the uterus and develop the connections between it and the mother. So, technically birds can’t do diapause because the fertilized ovum doesn’t stay in the uterus. But I think you asked this question because I was talking about storing sperm. But that mechanism of storing sperm happens before fertilization whereas diapause is something that happens after fertilization. The other possible way someone could equate diapause in a mammal to birds is that after egg is laid some species will hold off on incubating it so the embryo doesn’t develop during this time but then they will go to sitting on the egg and embryologic development begins. So it’s sort of diapause in that way but it’s not called that.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda