Homeostasis of the Nonfat Components of Migrating Birds

Abstract

Obesity in migratory birds appears to differ from obesity in man in that gains and losses in body weight do not involve changes in the tissue structure of the body; fat is added to and used from preexisting tissue spaces without appreciable change in the water content or the nonfat dry weight of the body as a whole. Evidence is presented which supports the hypothesis that the nonfat body is essentially homeostatic during migration despite very large scale changes in total body weight.