Nature & Environment
Mate You Smell Great, Say Birds and Hook Up
Brooke Miller
First Posted: Sep 08, 2012 09:02 AM EDT
The researchers from the Lund University in Sweden, in a Swedish French collaboration have come up with a new evidence that suggest, birds use the sense of smell to choose their mate.
They generally opt for a dissimilar mate because it helps in giving their young ones an efficient immune system.
According to the study humans and many animals choose a suitable mate the right smell as it gives their off spring an efficient immune system. Because each individuals smell is a reflection to the individuals gene.
When they find a mate genes matches their own, the offspring develops resistance against parasite and other diseases.
But birds are said to have a poor sense of smell. But birds like blue petrels are Antarctic seabirds come as an exception with good sense of smell. Just by using the sense of smell they select their mate and their nest and return to their nest in night.
A group of scientists, including researchers from Lund University, have now shown that, "Nose of the blue petrel is even capable of smelling which mate will produce young with the best immune systems."
"This study is collaboration between researchers here in Lund and researchers in France. My contribution has been my knowledge of how to identify and compare genes from different individuals," says Maria Strandh, a researcher at the Department of Biology at Lund University.
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First Posted: Sep 08, 2012 09:02 AM EDT
The researchers from the Lund University in Sweden, in a Swedish French collaboration have come up with a new evidence that suggest, birds use the sense of smell to choose their mate.
They generally opt for a dissimilar mate because it helps in giving their young ones an efficient immune system.
According to the study humans and many animals choose a suitable mate the right smell as it gives their off spring an efficient immune system. Because each individuals smell is a reflection to the individuals gene.
When they find a mate genes matches their own, the offspring develops resistance against parasite and other diseases.
But birds are said to have a poor sense of smell. But birds like blue petrels are Antarctic seabirds come as an exception with good sense of smell. Just by using the sense of smell they select their mate and their nest and return to their nest in night.
A group of scientists, including researchers from Lund University, have now shown that, "Nose of the blue petrel is even capable of smelling which mate will produce young with the best immune systems."
"This study is collaboration between researchers here in Lund and researchers in France. My contribution has been my knowledge of how to identify and compare genes from different individuals," says Maria Strandh, a researcher at the Department of Biology at Lund University.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone