Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches

Abstract Studies investigating parent offspring recognition in birds led to the conclusion that offspring recognition is absent at the early nestling stage. Especially male songbirds were often assumed to be unable to discriminate between own and foreign offspring. However, olfactory offspring recog...

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Autores principales:	Sarah Golüke, Hans-Joachim Bischof, Barbara A. Caspers
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7dcf4570da45447e8ba5cb958e320cbf
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7dcf4570da45447e8ba5cb958e320cbf2021-12-02T14:12:41ZNestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches10.1038/s41598-020-80466-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/7dcf4570da45447e8ba5cb958e320cbf2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80466-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Studies investigating parent offspring recognition in birds led to the conclusion that offspring recognition is absent at the early nestling stage. Especially male songbirds were often assumed to be unable to discriminate between own and foreign offspring. However, olfactory offspring recognition in birds has not been taken into account as yet, probably because particularly songbirds have for a long time been assumed anosmic. This study aimed to test whether offspring might be recognised via smell. We presented zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) parents either the odour of their own or that of foreign nestlings and investigated whether the odour presentation resulted in a change in the number of head saccades, i.e. the rapid horizontal turning of the head, with which birds scan their environment and which can be used as a proxy of arousal. Our experiment indicates that male zebra finches, in contrast to females, differentiate between their own and foreign offspring based on odour cues, as indicated by a significant differences in the change of head saccadic movements between males receiving the own chick odour and males receiving the odour of a foreign chick. Thus, it provides behavioural evidence for olfactory offspring recognition in male zebra finches and also the existence of appropriate phenotypic odour cues of the offspring. The question why females do not show any sign of behavioural response remains open, but it might be likely that females use other signatures for offspring recognition.Sarah GolükeHans-Joachim BischofBarbara A. CaspersNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Sarah Golüke Hans-Joachim Bischof Barbara A. Caspers Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches
description	Abstract Studies investigating parent offspring recognition in birds led to the conclusion that offspring recognition is absent at the early nestling stage. Especially male songbirds were often assumed to be unable to discriminate between own and foreign offspring. However, olfactory offspring recognition in birds has not been taken into account as yet, probably because particularly songbirds have for a long time been assumed anosmic. This study aimed to test whether offspring might be recognised via smell. We presented zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) parents either the odour of their own or that of foreign nestlings and investigated whether the odour presentation resulted in a change in the number of head saccades, i.e. the rapid horizontal turning of the head, with which birds scan their environment and which can be used as a proxy of arousal. Our experiment indicates that male zebra finches, in contrast to females, differentiate between their own and foreign offspring based on odour cues, as indicated by a significant differences in the change of head saccadic movements between males receiving the own chick odour and males receiving the odour of a foreign chick. Thus, it provides behavioural evidence for olfactory offspring recognition in male zebra finches and also the existence of appropriate phenotypic odour cues of the offspring. The question why females do not show any sign of behavioural response remains open, but it might be likely that females use other signatures for offspring recognition.
format	article
author	Sarah Golüke Hans-Joachim Bischof Barbara A. Caspers
author_facet	Sarah Golüke Hans-Joachim Bischof Barbara A. Caspers
author_sort	Sarah Golüke
title	Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches
title_short	Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches
title_full	Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches
title_fullStr	Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches
title_full_unstemmed	Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches
title_sort	nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7dcf4570da45447e8ba5cb958e320cbf
work_keys_str_mv	AT sarahgoluke nestlingodourmodulatesbehaviouralresponseinmalebutnotinfemalezebrafinches AT hansjoachimbischof nestlingodourmodulatesbehaviouralresponseinmalebutnotinfemalezebrafinches AT barbaraacaspers nestlingodourmodulatesbehaviouralresponseinmalebutnotinfemalezebrafinches
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Nestling odour modulates behavioural response in male, but not in female zebra finches

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