TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bonadonna, F. Caro
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Olfactory sex recognition investigated in Antarctic prions
JO  - PLOS ONE
SP  - e4148
VL  - 4
N2  - Chemical signals can yield information about an animal such as its identity, social status or sex. Such signals have rarely been considered in birds, but recent results have shown that chemical signals are actually used by different bird species to find food and to recognize their home and est. This is particularly true in petrels whose olfactory anatomy is among the most developed in birds. Recently, we have demonstrated that Antarctic prions, Pachyptila desolata, are also able to recognize and follow the odour of their partner in a Y-maze. However, the experimental protocol left unclear whether this choice reflected an olfactory recognition of a particular individual (i.e. partner) or a more general sex recognition mechanism. To test this second hypothesis, male and female birds’ odours were presented simultaneously to 54 Antarctic prions in a Y-maze. Results showed random behaviour by the tested bird, independent of its sex or reproductive status. Present results do not support the possibility that Antarctic prions can distinguish the sex of a conspecific through its odour but indirectly support the hypothesis that they can distinguish individual odours.
SN  - 1932-6203
N1  - exported from refbase (http://publi.ipev.fr/polar_references/show.php?record=5733), last updated on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:36:10 +0100
ID  - Bonadonna2009
ER  -