Homing Behaviour of Pigeons Subjected to Unilateral Zinc Sulphate Treatment of Their Olfactory Mucosa

Benvenuti, Simone Messerotti; Gagliardo, A

doi:10.1242/jeb.199.11.2531

Cited by 27 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We manipulated the olfactory capacity by rinsing the choanae of individuals with 300 µl of a 4% solution of zinc sulphate (anosmic) (Benvenuti et al, 1993;Benvenuti and Gagliardo, 1996;Holland et al, 2009;Kishkinev et al, 2019). This frequently used method serves in short-term manipulation of scent perception (i.e., induction of anosmia) in avian species, but currently only little information on the efficacy and duration of the treatment is available.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Songbirds use scent cues to relocate to feeding sites after displacement: An experiment in great tits (Parus major)

Mahr

Nowack²,

Knauer³

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Air-borne chemicals are highly abundant sensory cues and their use in navigation might be one of the major evolutionary mechanisms explaining the development of olfaction in animals. Despite solid evidence for the importance of olfaction in avian life (e.g., foraging or mating), the importance of chemical cues in avian orientation remains controversial. In particular, songbirds are sorely neglected models, despite their remarkable orientation skills. Here we show that great tits (Parus major) require olfactory cues to orientate toward winter-feeding sites within their home range after displacement. Birds that received an olfaction-depriving treatment were impaired in homing. However, the return rates between olfaction-deprived and control individuals did not differ. Birds with decreased perception of olfactory cues required more time to return to the winter feeding sites. This effect became apparent when the distance between the releasing and capture sites was greater. Our results indicate that even in a familiar environment with possible visual landmarks, scent cues might serve as an important source of information for orientation.

show abstract

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Songbirds use scent cues to relocate to feeding sites after displacement: An experiment in great tits (Parus major)

Mahr

Nowack²,

Knauer³

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To understand better the role of a bird's sense of smell, olfaction has been experimentally impaired either by sectioning the olfactory nerve (Papi et al, 1972;Balthazart & Schoeffeniels, 1979;Cohen, 1981;Hirao, Aoyama & Sugita, 2009) or by temporary impairment, for example, with zinc sulphate solutions (Benvenuti et al, 1992;Benvenuti & Gagliardo, 1996;Holland et al, 2009;Gagliardo et al, 2013;Caspers, Gagliardo & Krause, 2015a). These experiments yielded evidence for the involvement of olfaction in the parenting behaviour of ring doves Streptopelia risoria (Cohen, 1981), in navigation, homing behaviour and migratory orientation of pigeons Columba livia, Cory's shearwaters Calonectris diomedea borealis and catbirds Dumetella carolinensis (Papi et al, 1972;Benvenuti et al, 1992;Benvenuti & Gagliardo, 1996;Holland et al, 2009;Gagliardo et al, 2013) and in the reproduction and mating behaviour of ducks and chickens Gallus gallus domesticus (Balthazart & Schoefeniels, 1979;Hirao et al, 2009) as well as zebra finches (Caspers et al, 2015a). Steiger et al (2008) showed that in nine bird species the majority of amplified olfactory receptor (OR) sequences are from potentially functional genes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volatile organic compounds in preen oil and feathers – a review

Alves Soares,

Caspers,

Loos

2024

Biological Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For a long time birds were assumed to be anosmic or at best microsmatic, with olfaction a poorly understood and seldom investigated part of avian physiology. The full viability of avian olfaction was first discovered through its functions in navigation and foraging. Subsequently, researchers have investigated the role of olfaction in different social and non‐social contexts, including reproduction, kin recognition, predator avoidance, navigation and foraging. In parallel to the recognition of the importance of olfaction for avian social behaviour, there have been advances in the techniques and methods available for the sampling and analysis of trace volatiles and odourants, leading to insights into the chemistry underlying chemical communication in birds. This review provides (i) an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding the volatile chemical composition of preen oil and feathers, its phylogenetic coverage, chemical signatures and their potential functions, and (ii) a discussion of current methods used for the isolation and detection of volatiles. Finally, lines for future research are proposed.

show abstract

Olfaction and the homing ability of pigeons raised in a tropical area in Brazil

Benvenuti

Ranvaud

2004

J. Exp. Zool.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several workers have investigated the effect of anosmia on pigeon navigation in different geographical locations because it has been suggested that homing behavior is based on different cues, such as olfactory cues, the Earth's magnetic field or infrasound, and that in the absence of one cue another would be used. In this situation, no cue is universally indispensable, including olfactory ones. In order to extend such observations to a novel biome, we observed the behaviour of 192 young inexperienced birds raised in southeastern Brazil, a tropical area where olfactory tests had never been run before. The birds were released from eight symmetrically distributed sites 17 to 44 km from the loft. Half of these birds (experimentals) had been made temporarily anosmic by washing their olfactory mucosae with 4% solution of ZnSO4 the day before release, while controls were treated with Ringer solution. The results of release tests showed that anosmia totally impaired the navigational performance of experimental birds, which were unable to home from sites at relatively short distances from home (34-44 km) and whose pooled initial bearings produced a (negative) homeward component not significantly different from 0. Homing performance of controls was significantly better, and their pooled vanishing bearings had a significant homeward component, in spite of much scatter in individual releases. We conclude that pigeon homing in the study area depends on olfactory information, even though local environmental conditions in the interior of the State of Sao Paulo, as in several other parts of the world, do not appear to be as favorable as Italy for the development of efficient olfactory navigation.

show abstract

Homing Behaviour of Pigeons Subjected to Unilateral Zinc Sulphate Treatment of Their Olfactory Mucosa

Cited by 27 publications

References 25 publications

Songbirds use scent cues to relocate to feeding sites after displacement: An experiment in great tits (Parus major)

Songbirds use scent cues to relocate to feeding sites after displacement: An experiment in great tits (Parus major)

Volatile organic compounds in preen oil and feathers – a review

Olfaction and the homing ability of pigeons raised in a tropical area in Brazil

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About