Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs.
Parental investment in unrelated offspring seems maladaptive from an evolutionary perspective, due to the costs of energy and resources that cannot be invested in related offspring at the same time. Therefore selection should favour mechanisms to discriminate between own and foreign offspring. In bi...
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| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155513&type=printable |
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| author | Sarah Golüke Sebastian Dörrenberg E Tobias Krause Barbara A Caspers |
| author_facet | Sarah Golüke Sebastian Dörrenberg E Tobias Krause Barbara A Caspers |
| author_sort | Sarah Golüke |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Parental investment in unrelated offspring seems maladaptive from an evolutionary perspective, due to the costs of energy and resources that cannot be invested in related offspring at the same time. Therefore selection should favour mechanisms to discriminate between own and foreign offspring. In birds, much emphasis has been placed on understanding the visual mechanisms underlying egg recognition. However, olfactory egg recognition has almost been completely ignored. Here, we investigated whether female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) are able to discriminate between their own and a conspecific egg based on olfactory cues alone. Zebra finches are colonial-breeding songbirds. Eggs are monomorphic, i.e. without any spotting pattern, and intraspecific brood parasitism frequently occurs. In a binary choice experiment, female zebra finches were given the choice between the scent of their own and a conspecific egg. After the onset of incubation, females chose randomly and showed no sign of discrimination. However, shortly before hatching, females preferred significantly the odour of their own egg. The finding that females are capable to smell their own egg may inspire more research on the potential of olfaction involved in egg recognition, especially in cases where visual cues might be limited. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-028c5f4fb32146f29028cf292edd78a0 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-028c5f4fb32146f29028cf292edd78a02025-08-20T02:15:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01115e015551310.1371/journal.pone.0155513Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs.Sarah GolükeSebastian DörrenbergE Tobias KrauseBarbara A CaspersParental investment in unrelated offspring seems maladaptive from an evolutionary perspective, due to the costs of energy and resources that cannot be invested in related offspring at the same time. Therefore selection should favour mechanisms to discriminate between own and foreign offspring. In birds, much emphasis has been placed on understanding the visual mechanisms underlying egg recognition. However, olfactory egg recognition has almost been completely ignored. Here, we investigated whether female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) are able to discriminate between their own and a conspecific egg based on olfactory cues alone. Zebra finches are colonial-breeding songbirds. Eggs are monomorphic, i.e. without any spotting pattern, and intraspecific brood parasitism frequently occurs. In a binary choice experiment, female zebra finches were given the choice between the scent of their own and a conspecific egg. After the onset of incubation, females chose randomly and showed no sign of discrimination. However, shortly before hatching, females preferred significantly the odour of their own egg. The finding that females are capable to smell their own egg may inspire more research on the potential of olfaction involved in egg recognition, especially in cases where visual cues might be limited.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155513&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Golüke Sebastian Dörrenberg E Tobias Krause Barbara A Caspers Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs. PLoS ONE |
| title | Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs. |
| title_full | Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs. |
| title_fullStr | Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs. |
| title_short | Female Zebra Finches Smell Their Eggs. |
| title_sort | female zebra finches smell their eggs |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155513&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahgoluke femalezebrafinchessmelltheireggs AT sebastiandorrenberg femalezebrafinchessmelltheireggs AT etobiaskrause femalezebrafinchessmelltheireggs AT barbaraacaspers femalezebrafinchessmelltheireggs |