Domestic canary

The domestic canary, often simply known as the canary (Serinus canaria forma domestica[5]),
is a domesticated form of the wild canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating from
the Macaronesian Islands (the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands).
 Domestic canary

Domestic canary

Conservation status

Domesticated

Scientific classification

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Fringillidae
 Subfamily: Carduelinae

Genus: Serinus

Species: S. canaria

Subspecies: S. c. domestica

Trinomial name

Serinus canaria domestica

(Linnaeus, 1758)[1][2]

Synonyms
Serinus canarius domesticus[3] Linnaeus 1758, I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1861[4]

Canaries were first bred in captivity in the 17th century, having been brought to Europe by
Spanish sailors. Monks started breeding them and only sold the males (which sing). This kept
the birds in short supply and drove the price up. Eventually, Italians obtained hens and were
able to breed the birds. This made them very popular, resulting in many breeds arising, and the
birds being bred all over Europe.

The same occurred in England. First the birds were only owned by the rich, but eventually the
local citizens started to breed them and, again, they became very popular. Many breeds arose
through selective breeding, and they are still very popular today for their voices.

From the 18th up to the 20th centuries, canaries and finches were used in the UK, Canada and
the US in the coal mining industry to detect carbon monoxide. In the UK, this practice ceased
in 1986.[6]

Typically, the domestic canary is kept as a popular cage and aviary bird. Given proper housing
and care, a canary's lifespan ranges from 10 to 15 years.[7]

Etymology
The birds are named after Spain's Canary Islands, which derive their name from the Latin
Insula Canaria (after one of the larger islands, Gran Canaria), meaning 'island of dogs', due to
its "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size".[8]

A white canary nesting

Feral yellow canary at Midway Atoll

 Red factor canary

Sleeping canary

Varieties
Domestic canaries are generally divided into three main groups:

Colour-bred canaries (bred for their

many colour mutations – Ino, Eumo,
Satinette, Bronze, Ivory, Onyx, Mosaic,
Brown, red factor, Green (Wild Type):
darkest black and brown melanin
shade in yellow ground birds, Yellow
Melanin: mutation showing yellow
ground colour with brown and black
pigment, Yellow Lipochrome: mutation
creating the loss of brown and black
pigment, leaving yellow ground colour[9]
etc.)

Type canaries (bred for their shape and

conformation – Australian plainhead,
Berner, Border, Fife, Gibber Italicus,
Gloster, Lancashire, Raza Española,
Yorkshire, etc.)

Song canaries (bred for their unique

and specific song patterns – Spanish
Timbrado, German Roller (also known
 as Harz Roller), Waterslager (also
known as "Malinois"), American Singer,
Russian Singer, Persian Singer).
While wild canaries are a yellowish-green colour, domestic canaries have been selectively bred
for a wide variety of colours, such as yellow, orange, brown, black, white, and red (the colour
red was introduced to the domestic canary through hybridisation with the red siskin (Spinus
cucullatus), a species of South American finch).[10] Evidence of hybridization has also been
found between the domestic canary (S. canaria domestica) and the black-chinned siskin
(Spinus barbatus) in captivity.[11]

Midway Atoll is home to a colony of feral yellow canaries, descended from pet birds introduced
in 1909 by employees of the Commercial Pacific Cable Company.[12] An estimated 500
canaries, which have retained their bright yellow plumage, are resident on Sand Island.[13]

Competitions
Canaries are judged in competitions following the annual molt in the summer.[14] This means
that in the Northern Hemisphere the show season generally begins in October or November
and runs through December or January. Birds can only be shown by the persons who raised
them. A show bird must have a unique band on its leg indicating the year of birth, the band
number, and the club to which the breeder belongs.

There are many canary shows all over the world. The world show (C.O.M. - Confederation
Ornithologique Mondiale) is held in Europe each year and attracts thousands of breeders. As
many as 20,000 birds are brought together for this competition.
Miner's canary

Mining foreman R. Thornburg shows a

small cage with a canary used for
testing carbon monoxide gas in 1928.

Resuscitation cage with an oxygen

cylinder serving as a handle used to
revive a canary for multiple uses in
detecting carbon monoxide pockets
within mines

Mice were used as sentinel species for use in detecting carbon monoxide in British coal
mining from around 1896,[15] after the idea had been suggested in 1895 by John Scott
Haldane.[16] Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide or asphyxiant gases such as methane[17] in
the mine would affect small warm-blooded animals before affecting the miners, since their
respiratory exchange is more rapid than in humans. A mouse will be affected by carbon
monoxide within a few minutes, while a human will have an interval of 20 times as long.[18]
Later, canaries were found to be more sensitive and a more effective indicator as they showed
more visible signs of distress. Their use in mining is documented from around 1900.[19] The
birds were sometimes kept in carriers which had small oxygen bottles attached to revive the
birds.[20][21] The use of miners' canaries in British mines was phased out in 1986.[22][23]

The phrase "canary in a coal mine" is frequently used to refer to a person or thing which serves
as an early warning of a coming crisis. By analogy, the term "climate canary" is used to refer to
a species (called an indicator species) that is affected by an environmental danger prior to
other species, thus serving as an early warning system for the other species with regard to the
danger.[24]

Use in research
Canaries have been extensively used in research to study neurogenesis, or the birth of new
neurons in the adult brain, and also for basic research in order to understand how songbirds
encode and produce song. Thus, canaries have served as model species for discovering how
the vertebrate brain learns, consolidates memories, and recalls coordinated motor
movements.

Fernando Nottebohm, a professor at the Rockefeller University in New York City, detailed the
avian brain structures and pathways that are involved in the production of bird song.[25][26]

Canaries are sometimes used to avoid hazardous human testing. Wasicky et al 1949 used
them in early testing of insect repellents. Human testing could only provide limited sample size
and the inherent variance of the host ⇔ repellent ⇔ insect interaction is too high. Canaries,
among other test animals, provided larger sample sizes cheaply.[27]

In culture
In organized crime, the canary symbolizes an informant who "sings to the police".[28]

Canaries have been depicted in cartoons from the mid-20th century as being harassed by
domestic cats; the most famous cartoon canary is Warner Bros.' "Tweety".

Norwich City, an English football team, is nicknamed "the Canaries" due to the city once being
a famous centre for breeding and export of the birds. The club adopted the colours of yellow
and green in homage. Jacob Mackley, of Norwich, won many prizes with birds of the local
variety and shipped about 10,000 from Norwich to New York every year.[29] A number of other
sports teams worldwide use variations of the name "Canaries", such as Atlético Morelia
(Mexico), Botev Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Frosinone (Italy), Koper (Slovenia), FC Novi Sad (Serbia),
Fenerbahçe (Turkey), Lillestrøm SK (Norway), Kedah FA (Malaysia), IAPE (Maranhão, Brazil),
the Brazil national football team and the Brazil women's national football team.

See also

Atlantic canary (wild canary)

Australian plainhead

Harz Roller

Red factor canary

Birdcage

John Scott Haldane

Warrant canary

Sentinel species

References

1. Index to Organism Names (ION) (http://w

 ww.organismnames.com/details.htm?lsi
d=4495159) Archived (https://web.archi
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2. Encyclopedia of life (http://eol.org/page

s/4390993/overview)

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29. Heaton, Trevor (June 21, 2014). "How
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Further reading

McDonald, Robirda, Brats in Feathers,

Keeping Canaries ISBN 0-9730434-4-X

Miley-Russell, Marie, The Practical

Canary Handbook, A Guide to Breeding
and Keeping Canaries. ISBN 1-59113-
851-5. Especially useful to American
Singer canary owners.

Linda Hogan, Canary Tales

 GB Walker, Colour, Type, and Song
Canaries

David Alderton, Birds Care, You and

your pet bird

Author unknown, The Canary

Handbook, Canaries, Barrons

Tim Hawcroft, Health Care for Birds

James Blake, Fife Canaries

External links

The Canary FAQ (http://www.petcraft.c

om/articles/2014/10/11/the-canary-fa
q/)

The Rockefeller University (http://www.r

ockefeller.edu/research/faculty/labhea
ds/FernandoNottebohm/)
 Canary Sound (https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=L4z9X2Is_10) on YouTube
Wikimedia Commons has media
related to the domestic canary.
Domestic canary (https://curlie.org//Recreation/Pets/Birds/Species/Finches/Canaries/) at
Curlie

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Domestic_canary&oldid=1219825415"

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