EXCALFACTORIA QUAIL AS A NEW LABORATORY RESEARCH ANIMAL

Chinese painted quail (Excalfactoria chinensis), which is sometimes re ared as a bird for pleasure, appears to be an excellent candidate for a laboratory research animal. Handling and general care of this specie s are very easy because of its small body size and hardiness. The body weight (mean +/-SEM) of the newly hatched chick, adult male, and adul t female is 3.93 +/- .05, 47.66 +/- .52, and 55.89 +/- .75 g, respecti vely; that is, approximately half the size of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Furthermore, Chinese painted quail shows excellen t reproductive performance. It reaches sexual maturity around 8 to 9 w k of age. Laying ability, fertility, hatchability, and viability up to maturity are 60 to 80, 91, 84, and 78%, respectively. These values ar e equal or superior to those of Japanese quail, which has been widely used for biological research. In the future, Chinese painted quail may be an alternative to Japanese quail or might surpass Japanese quail a s a laboratory research animal because of its smaller body size and ex cellent reproductive performance.