Olfactory imprinting as a mechanism for nest odour recognition in zebra finches


Authors/Editors


Research Areas


Publication Details

Output typeJournal article

Author listCaspers BA, Hoffman JI, Kohlmeier P, Kruger O, Krause ET

PublisherElsevier

Publication year2013

JournalAnimal Behaviour (0003-3472)

Volume number86

Issue number1

Start page85

End page90

Number of pages6

ISSN0003-3472

LanguagesEnglish-Great Britain (EN-GB)


Unpaywall Data

Open access statusclosed


Abstract

Olfactory communication is widespread across the animal kingdom but until recently was believed to be unimportant in songbirds. However, recent studies of zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, have found that fledglings are capable of recognizing their own nest based on olfactory cues alone. This raises the important question of whether this knowledge is learned or innate. To discriminate between these two hypotheses, we experimentally fostered single eggs into foreign, unrelated broods, and subsequently tested the odour preferences of the respective fledglings. In contrast to a previous study in which individuals were fostered as chicks, we found a strong preference for the host nest odour. This suggests that olfactory imprinting occurs and is based on a familial template learnt within a narrow time window around hatching. (C) 2013 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Keywords

avian olfactionearly learningfamilial imprintingsongbirdTaeniopygia guttatazebra finch


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