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Bacteria may allow animals to send quick, voluminous messages

Twitter clips human thoughts to a mere 140 characters. Animals’ scent posts may be equally as short, relatively speaking, yet they convey an encyclopedia of information about the animals that left them.

In the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a Michigan State University researcher shows that the detailed scent posts of hyenas are, in part, products of symbiotic bacteria, microbes that have a mutually beneficial relationship with their hosts. (more…)

Birds choose sweet-smelling mates

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Nature, Sciencebird, bird odor, chemical signals, danielle whittaker, dark eyed juncos, female like odor, genetic background, hormone levels, indiana university, michigan state university, nicole gerlach, odor eschewing luddites, potential mates, reproductive health, reproductive success, scent based communications, sweet smelling mates

For most animals, scent is the instant messenger of choice for quickly exchanging personal profiles. Scientists, however, have long dismissed birds as odor-eschewing Luddites that don’t take advantage of scent-based communications.

In a first-of-its-kind study, however, a Michigan State University researcher has demonstrated that birds do indeed communicate via scents, and that odor reliably predicts their reproductive success. The study appears in the current issue of Animal Behaviour and focuses on volatile compounds in avian preen secretions. (more…)

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Bacteria may allow animals to send quick, voluminous messages

Birds choose sweet-smelling mates