Avian olfaction: a review of the recent literature

Abstract

All birds studied to date have a functioning sense of smell, which they use for a wide range of tasks, from foraging to mate choice. However, compared with other avian senses, olfaction has received comparatively little research attention and is often overlooked when designing experiments, or interpreting data, in which birds have been used as subjects. This brief review aims to provide an overview of our understanding of avian olfaction, focusing in particular on articles published over the past 10 years. We emphasize studies, species, and concepts that may be of particular interest to those working within animal behavior or cognition, and we conclude by highlighting some directions for future research.

Investigating the use of odour and colour foraging cues by rosy-faced lovebirds (Agapornis roseicollis) using deep-learning based behavioural analysis

“…We conducted binary choice experiments, commonly used to study sensory discrimination in birds (e.g., Potier et al, 2021; Abankwah et al, 2020). Because lovebird natural diet includes fruits and seeds (Ndithia & Perrin, 2009a), we used natural sunflower seeds, Parakeet Higgins Vita Seed, and Mazuri food pellets as food reward in the experimental set-up.…”

A Gull Species Recognizes MHC-II Diversity and Dissimilarity Using Odor Cues

“…However there is now abundant evidence that birds have a functional olfactory system (Bang and Cobb 1968;Steiger et al 2008) and use olfaction in various non-social contexts, including foraging, navigation or nest sanitation (Abankwah et al 2020;Caro and Balthazart 2010;Potier 2020;Bonadonna and Gagliardo 2021). In contrast, the role of olfactory cues in avian social life is still poorly known (Caro et al 2015), albeit being a rapidly growing research area (Whittaker and Hagelin 2021).…”