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In the current study, the concentration and prevalence of birds’ egg’s mycotoxins among 11 articles (66 studies) based on countries, part of eggs, and type of mycotoxins subgroups were meta-analyses using a random-effect model. The order of mycotoxin according to concentration of mycotoxin was Deoxynivalenol (20.083 μg/kg) > Zearalenone (2.065 μg/kg) > Enniatin (1.120 μg/kg) > Total aflatoxin (0.371 μg/kg) > Beauvericin (0.223 μg/kg) > Ochratoxins (0.087 μg/kg) > Citrinin (0.010 μg/kg). Further, the mycotoxins’ concentration in the yolk part (2.070 μg/kg) was higher than the mixed eggs (0.283 μg/kg). The rank order of mycotoxin based on country was China (14.990 μg/kg) > Cameroon (7.594 μg/kg) > Thailand (1.870 μg/kg) > Finland (0.920 μg/kg) > Iran (0.312 μg/kg) > Jordan (0.202 μg/kg) > Belgium (0.183 μg/kg) > Spain ( South Korea ( DON (85.00%) > AFT (20.15%) > OT (16.00%). The overall prevalence of mycotoxin was equal to 29.65%. Also, the concentration of mycotoxins in China and Cameroon was higher than in other countries. Therefore, the monitoring programs to reduce mycotoxins in bird eggs consumed in some countries such as China and Cameroon should be considered.

Black-crowned night heron ( Nycticorax nycticorax ) eggs have been identified as useful indicators for biomonitoring the environmental pollution in China. In this study, we investigated thirty eggs of black-crowned night heron collected from the upper Yangtze River (Changjiang) Basin, Southwest China, for the occurrence of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Our results showed a general presence of POPs in night heron eggs with OCPs being the dominant contaminants, having a geometric mean concentration of 22.2 ng g −1 wet weight (ww), followed by PCBs (1.36 ng g −1 ww), PBDEs (0.215 ng g −1 ww), and PCDD/Fs (23.0 pg g −1 ww). The concentration levels were found to be significantly higher in night heron eggs than in poultry eggs by one or two magnitude orders. Among OCP congeners, p,p′-DDE was found to be predominant in night heron eggs, with a geometric mean concentration of 15.1 ng g −1 ww. Furthermore, species-specific congener patterns in eggs suggested similar or different sources for different POPs, possibly associated with contaminated soil and parental dietary sources. Additionally, estimated daily intakes (EDIs) were used to evaluate non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk associated with consumption of bird eggs. Our results revealed non-negligible non-cancer and cancer risk for humans who consume wild bird eggs as a regular diet instead of poultry eggs.

In accordance with Article 43 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, EFSA received a mandate from the European Commission to perform a targeted risk assessment for residues of lambda‐cyhalothrin in poultry products (meat/muscle, fat, liver, kidney, edible offal) and bird's eggs. EFSA performed the acute (short‐term) and chronic (long‐term) dietary risk assessment considering the lambda‐cyhalothrin exposure via residues in food commodities from poultry and birds' eggs at the levels of the proposed temporary maximum residue level (MRL) of 0.03 mg/kg and 0.02 mg/kg, respectively. These temporary MRLs were derived by the European Commission from monitoring data provided by EU member States and compiled by EFSA in a central database. Based on the risk assessment results, EFSA concluded that the proposed temporary MRL is unlikely to pose a risk to consumer health.

Before modern binoculars and cameras made it possible to observe birds closely in the wild, many people collected eggs as a way of learning about birds. Serious collectors called their avocation \"oology\" and kept meticulous records for each set of eggs: the bird's name, the species reference number, the quantity of eggs in the clutch, the date and location where the eggs were collected, and the collector's name. These documented egg collections, which typically date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, now provide an important baseline from which to measure changes in the numbers, distribution, and nesting patterns of many species of birds. In Oology and Ralph's Talking Eggs, Carrol L. Henderson uses the vast egg collection of Ralph Handsaker, an Iowa farmer, as the starting point for a fascinating account of oology and its role in the origins of modern birdwatching, scientific ornithology, and bird conservation in North America. Henderson describes Handsaker's and other oologists' collecting activities, which included not only gathering bird eggs in the wild but also trading and purchasing eggs from collectors around the world. Henderson then spotlights sixty of the nearly five hundred bird species represented in the Handsaker collection, using them to tell the story of how birds such as the Snowy Egret, Greater Prairie Chicken, Atlantic Puffin, and Wood Duck have fared over the past hundred years or so since their eggs were gathered. Photos of the eggs and historical drawings and photos of the birds illustrate each species account. Henderson also links these bird histories to major milestones in bird conservation and bird protection laws in North America from 1875 to the present.

Avian egg shape is generally explained as an adaptation to life history, yet we currently lack a global synthesis of how egg-shape differences arise and evolve. Here, we apply morphometric, mechanistic, and macroevolutionary analyses to the egg shapes of 1400 bird species. We characterize egg-shape diversity in terms of two biologically relevant variables, asymmetry and ellipticity, allowing us to quantify the observed morphologies in a two-dimensional morphospace. We then propose a simple mechanical model that explains the observed egg-shape diversity based on geometric and material properties of the egg membrane. Finally, using phylogenetic models, we show that egg shape correlates with flight ability on broad taxonomic scales, suggesting that adaptations for flight may have been critical drivers of egg-shape variation in birds.

This paper presents the results of collaborative research conducted in 2007 on the harvest of migratory bird eggs by Inuit households of Nunatsiavut, Labrador. Harvest variability between communities and species is examined, as is the social and ecological factors affecting the 2007 Inuit egg harvest. Representing the first comprehensive account of Inuit egg use in Labrador, this information should be valuable to agencies responsible for managing migratory bird populations in North America and will contribute to a more informed understanding of the complexity and temporal variability in subsistence harvesting among Labrador Inuit. It is argued that the recognition of this complexity will be critical as the Nunatsiavut Government and other wildlife management agencies formulate management policies that are supportive rather, than constraining, to Inuit resource use in the future.

Interspecific comparative studies in trait responses to nest predation will help uncover potential costs associated with changes in nest predation risk that may constrain the degree of the response. Reptiles build large mounds of sand, soil or compost in which they bury and leave their eggs after laying. As their eggs are not exposed, reptiles consistently lay immaculate white eggs; while some birds that also lay immaculate white eggs place their nests in exposed sites under sunlight. Comparing the spectrum of reptile and bird eggs, especially in the ultraviolet (UV) region, may help us understand the evolution of coloration in bird eggs. We measured white immaculate eggs from four species of turtle and three species of birds by spectrometer, and compared their hue, chroma, UV brightness, and total brightness. Our results indicated that the UV reflectance of bird eggs consistently exhibited peaks and troughs in waveform that obviously differed from that of turtle eggs, which rising gradually from 300 to 400 nm. This finding implies that bird eggs have been released from enclosed nests, like those of reptiles, and have thus evolved an adaptation in UV reflectance as a signal. Furthermore, artificial nest experiments indicated that predation rates of bird eggs were significantly higher than those of turtle eggs, implying that such a signal might exist. Our study provides baseline data and perspective for further research on the evolution of egg coloration between reptiles and birds.

Calcified eggshells protect developing embryos against environmental stress and contribute to reproductive success 1 . As modern crocodilians and birds lay hard-shelled eggs, this eggshell type has been inferred for non-avian dinosaurs. Known dinosaur eggshells are characterized by an innermost membrane, an overlying protein matrix containing calcite, and an outermost waxy cuticle 2 – 7 . The calcitic eggshell consists of one or more ultrastructural layers that differ markedly among the three major dinosaur clades, as do the configurations of respiratory pores. So far, only hadrosaurid, a few sauropodomorph and tetanuran eggshells have been discovered; the paucity of the fossil record and the lack of intermediate eggshell types challenge efforts to homologize eggshell structures across all dinosaurs 8 – 18 . Here we present mineralogical, organochemical and ultrastructural evidence for an originally non-biomineralized, soft-shelled nature of exceptionally preserved ornithischian Protoceratops and basal sauropodomorph Mussaurus eggs. Statistical evaluation of in situ Raman spectra obtained for a representative set of hard- and soft-shelled, fossil and extant diapsid eggshells clusters the originally organic but secondarily phosphatized Protoceratops and the organic Mussaurus eggshells with soft, non-biomineralized eggshells. Histology corroborates the organic composition of these soft-shelled dinosaur eggs, revealing a stratified arrangement resembling turtle soft eggshell. Through an ancestral-state reconstruction of composition and ultrastructure, we compare eggshells from Protoceratops and Mussaurus with those from other diapsids, revealing that the first dinosaur egg was soft-shelled. The calcified, hard-shelled dinosaur egg evolved independently at least three times throughout the Mesozoic era, explaining the bias towards eggshells of derived dinosaurs in the fossil record. Molecular analyses of newly discovered, embryo-bearing ornithischian and sauropod dinosaur eggs suggest that the ancestral dinosaur egg was soft-shelled, and that hard-shelled eggs evolved independently at least three times in the major dinosaur lineages.

Egg quality is an important feature in egg production and is affected by many factors, including the genetic makeup of the bird. However, the influence of the chicken genotype on egg quality traits is limited and inconclusive. Therefore, this study aimed to highlight the influence of genotype on the external and internal egg quality traits of the Potchefstroom Koekoek and Lohmann Brown layers. A total of 600 eggs (300 eggs per genotype) was used, and a cross-sectional experimental design was used. The findings displayed that all external egg quality traits were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the genotype, except for the unit shell surface weight (P ≥ 0.05). The outcomes also displayed that the genotype significantly (P < 0.05) affected all internal egg quality traits. The most affected traits favored the Lohmann Brown over the Potchefstroom Koekoek chickens. In conclusion, the outcomes showed significant differences in the external egg quality traits such as the egg length, shell weight, eggshell index, egg width and shell ratio, and the significant differences in the internal egg quality traits such as yolk/ albumen, yolk weight, albumen weight, albumen ratio and yolk ratio between the Potchefstroom Koekoek and Lohmann Brown chickens.

The complex patterns on bird eggs, characterized by their replicability, distinctiveness, and intricacy, play significant roles in avian biology, including camouflage, protection from brood parasites, protecting embryos, nest identification, strengthening eggshells, and female sexual selection. The genus Lanius , known for its distinctive pigmentation patterns, shows considerable variability within species, making it an intriguing but poorly understood group. We applied Explainable AI (XAI) methods to uncover pigmentation patterns that represent species-wide identification signatures. To do this, we used Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to classify shrike eggs and explore potential correlations between egg identification and eggshell patterns. Our CNN model achieved over 95% accuracy in predicting species, but identifying specific discriminative features proved difficult, as the model only highlighted general trends. This method could help organize collections and verify species affiliation in global ornithological collections, which often face challenges such as missing or illegible labels. CNNs can enhance species identification and improve the accuracy of ornithological studies. Despite some challenges, the potential applications of this research in avian biology and museum collections are promising. It offers new insights into the role of eggshell patterns in avian evolutionary strategies. This approach not only enriches our understanding of egg pigmentation but also contributes to advancements in studies spanning from ecology to biomedical research.