Pheromones and olfaction in the birds and the bees: from yeasts to you
Homing pigeons depend on their sense of smell to find their way home.
This recent report helps to confirm that olfaction is essential to behavioral development in the birds and the bees (i.e., from insects to vertebrates). In addition, there are now several articles that report on how pheromones are involved in sexual arousal in birds (Ball and Balthazart in press), as well as in mate choice (Whittaker, Soini et al. 2010) (Caro and Balthazart 2010). These and other peer-reviewed publications address the science of cause and effect that is missing from earlier works on avian behavior.
Until recently, visual and auditory signals were considered to be the more salient cues involved in avian species. The downside of this wrong-headed approach to the study of animal behavior is when other species are compared to men and women. Because of the years of research on birds, many of us have been led to believe that our sexual behavior is based on visual and auditory input, with olfactory input and pheromones playing a lesser role. There is no scientific data to suggest this. But, as has been the case with birds, you will no doubt read that humans are primarily visual creatures — especially in the series of articles on love that appear each year in the mass media as some of us approach the celebration of Valentine’s Day. Obviously, some people remain as blind as bats when it comes to love.
Whether you are as blind as any other bat-like mammal, or have the visual acuity of an eagle-eyed avian makes no difference when it comes to the neurophysiological mechanisms of behavioral development, sexual arousal, and mate choice. It’s the pheromones that are most important in every species from yeasts to you.
Citations:
Ball, G. F. and J. Balthazart (in press). “Sexual arousal, is it for mammals only?” Hormones and Behavior In Press, Accepted Manuscript.
Caro, S. P. and J. Balthazart (2010). “Pheromones in birds: myth or reality?” J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2010: 21.
Whittaker, D. J., H. A. Soini, et al. (2010). “Songbird chemosignals: volatile compounds in preen gland secretions vary among individuals, sexes, and populations.” Behavioral Ecology 21(3): 608-614.
Want more on the same topic?
Swipe/Drag Left and Right To Browse Related Posts:
Codon optimality vs systemic fraud (3)
2 MIN READ
0
Quantum Darwinism (6)
2 MIN READ
0
Life or death facts about theories (4)
3 MIN READ
0
The tipping point (revisited): 100K (1)
4 MIN READ
0
From Wuhan to you (4)
2 MIN READ
0
MicroRNA-mediated healthy longevity (3)
3 MIN READ
0
The tipping point (revisited): 95K (5)
< 1 MIN READ
0
Virus-driven sympatric speciation (1)
2 MIN READ
0
#SFN2019 to 2012: Hiding the facts (2)
6 MIN READ
0
Lewis Thomas (revisited): 90K (7)
3 MIN READ
0
Food energy-as-information, and consciousness
4 MIN READ
0
pH, amino acids, and health: Effects of sunlight and well wishes
2 MIN READ
0
The tipping point (revisited): 87K (3)
4 MIN READ
0
Tasting light links energy from creation to adaptation (3)
2 MIN READ
0
DS Wilson’s view of biophysically constrained life (3)
3 MIN READ
0
Autophagy automagically prevents cancer (2)
2 MIN READ
0
Phytoremediation, Microbiome and CRISPR (1)
3 MIN READ
0
Light and life at base pair resolution (1)
2 MIN READ
0
SfN’s 2018 trap set for Democrats
2 MIN READ
0
Quantized energy-dependent microRNA-mediated autophagy (2)
< 1 MIN READ
0
The concept of a species (4)
2 MIN READ
0
MicroRNA-mediated alternative splicing (revisited)
4 MIN READ
0
Laws of Biology / Rules of Life
3 MIN READ
0
Diet-driven RNA interference and mental health (4)
8 MIN READ
0
Subatomic: From thermophiles to humans (3)
3 MIN READ
0
A reversible TCA cycle in a thermophile (2)
3 MIN READ
0
Autophagy is the antiphage defense strategy (2)
4 MIN READ
0
Enzyme-constrained interethnic biodiversity (5)
4 MIN READ
0
Agilent technology and energy-dependent autophagy
8 MIN READ
0
The overwhelming ignorance of sex researchers (2)
4 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent base editing and correction of mutations (2)
9 MIN READ
0
Exposing the 2nd Law to more ridicule (1)
6 MIN READ
0
A null mutation and healthy longevity?
4 MIN READ
0
Pheromones biophysically constrain RNA-mediated biodiversity (1)
5 MIN READ
0
The next reformation: 500 years too late? (2)
2 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent structure and function: Until death (3)
3 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent structure and function: Until death (2)
5 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent structure and function: Until death (1)
4 MIN READ
0
Until death: Virus-driven failure of multisensory integration (1)
4 MIN READ
0
Predicting who wins the 2017 Nobel Prizes
4 MIN READ
0
Sexual communication signals: New Insights!
10 MIN READ
0
Human Idiocy: The failure to link energy from electrons to ecosystems
19 MIN READ
0
Your indifference is killing you and others
5 MIN READ
0
Your indifference is killing you and others (4)
4 MIN READ
0
Robert Sapolsky’s legacy of atheistic pseudoscientific nonsense
4 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent physical and biophysical constraints (8)
5 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent epigenetic translation to mRNA stability (3)
5 MIN READ
0
Energy as information and constrained endogenous RNA interference (4)
7 MIN READ
0
Draining the academic swamp of parasites
3 MIN READ
0
Open Science: Closed to facts about microRNAs
6 MIN READ
0
Functionally interdependent editing and methylation
4 MIN READ
0
Cytosis: Biology Content
7 MIN READ
0
Harvard researchers support young earth creationism
< 1 MIN READ
0
Energy is information. Objections over ruled. You’re fired!
7 MIN READ
0
Twisted theories and weaponized facts
3 MIN READ
0
Science journalists or paid propagandists? (2)
3 MIN READ
0
Anti-entropic energy and the “Music of Life”
3 MIN READ
0
Anti-entropic energy and the "Music of Life"
3 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent natural translational selection
4 MIN READ
0
Combating evolution: Battlefield medicine vs politicized science
6 MIN READ
0
The futility of The Battlefield FB group
10 MIN READ
0
Optogenetics: Let there be virucidal light!
2 MIN READ
0
Epigenetically effected energy-dependent fluorescence
5 MIN READ
0
Epigenetics and autophagy vs mutations and evolution (6)
2 MIN READ
0
From precis to pre-mRNA and proof of concept in F1, F2, F3
6 MIN READ
0
From Precis to Proof in 6000 years
9 MIN READ
0
Light ‘drives’ adaptation; nothing ‘drives’ evolution (3)
< 1 MIN READ
0
Polycombic ecological adaptation as a science, not a theory (2)
12 MIN READ
0
Biological evolution as a philosophy, not a science
6 MIN READ
0
Chromatin: The structure of DNA
6 MIN READ
0
Conserved biophotonic emissions
7 MIN READ
2
Non-random pheromone-controlled cell type differentiation
3 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent biodiversity
5 MIN READ
0
Countdown to Genetics and Genomics
< 1 MIN READ
0
Half truths support theories without facts
4 MIN READ
0
Ignore the evidence: Rachel Feltman
5 MIN READ
0
RNA-mediated DNA modifications
5 MIN READ
0
Ricki Lewis’ Time Machine
5 MIN READ
0
Hydrogen-atom transfer in DNA base pairs (5)
10 MIN READ
0
Finding peace and π in the light of H bond energy (2)
8 MIN READ
0
Assumptions prove ignorance
5 MIN READ
0
Positive feedback loops and epigenetic traps
2 MIN READ
0
Controled Stem Cell Expansion
3 MIN READ
0
Mystery machine vs model (3)
2 MIN READ
0
Thermotolerance and Longevity
57 MIN READ
0
Ecology replaces the extended evolutionary synthesis
4 MIN READ
0
“New” epigenetic mechanism for lifelong learning?
3 MIN READ
0
Unconscious affect (revisited)
2 MIN READ
0
Olfactory perception of genetic information
2 MIN READ
2
Epigenetic regulation of aging by glycine and GnRH
5 MIN READ
0
A lighting requirement for life
11 MIN READ
3
Retinoic acid + one receptor regulate the genome
3 MIN READ
0
Epigenetics: microRNAs effect an integrative pathway
4 MIN READ
0
How to find a “holy grail” under your nose
3 MIN READ
0
Linking the origin of birds to dinosaurs
< 1 MIN READ
0
Re-inventing a completely new thing
4 MIN READ
0
Viruses and ecologically adapted animals
2 MIN READ
0
RNA-directed gene choice
5 MIN READ
0
Walk towards the light
< 1 MIN READ
0
Two types of microRNA are not double agents
2 MIN READ
0
Imagining that data historically supports evolutionary theory
7 MIN READ
0
All of "like kind" in the (bigger) family
6 MIN READ
1
Environment epigenetically shapes the immune system
3 MIN READ
0
From Hydra to humans vs a Lakatosian research program
4 MIN READ
0
Unified nutritional and molecular mechanisms
9 MIN READ
0
Model organisms: the birds and the bees
3 MIN READ
0
Atoms to ecosystems: Evolutionary theory vs the coelacanth
6 MIN READ
0
Dual genomes: exposing the evolution industry
5 MIN READ
0
Thermodynamic constraints and ecological adaptations sans evolution
6 MIN READ
0
Eliminating correlations from evolutionary ecology
6 MIN READ
0
The key to science: experimental evidence
5 MIN READ
0
Ecological adaptations reported as evolution in insects and mammals
4 MIN READ
0
Nothing new under the sun, except pseudoscientific nonsense
6 MIN READ
0
We need pattern recognition, not a prologue
6 MIN READ
0
Sexual differentiation of cell types in plants
2 MIN READ
0
No understanding of biodiversity
2 MIN READ
0
Understanding physical forces of ecological variation and adaptation
< 1 MIN READ
0
Eliminating evolutionary theory
3 MIN READ
0
Unassailable evidence vs assumptions
4 MIN READ
0
Forces of "Nature" limit dissemination of information
4 MIN READ
0
Systems biology and memory disorders
3 MIN READ
0
Physics, Chemistry, and Molecular biology (PCMb)
2 MIN READ
0
Physics denied; pseudoscientific nonsense accepted
2 MIN READ
0
Ecological variation and niche construction: 1, 2, 3
6 MIN READ
0
Epigenetically-effected metabolic shifts and ecological adaptations
3 MIN READ
0
RNA-directed DNA methylation and RNA-mediated events
5 MIN READ
1
Quantum physics meets Evolutionary Psychology News
2 MIN READ
0
Insect homology and diversity attributed to mutations
2 MIN READ
0
Comparing divergent model organisms
2 MIN READ
1
Order and disorder: Ecological adaptations not mutations
6 MIN READ
0
Drunks and Monkeys: Pseudoscientific nonsense
2 MIN READ
0
The quantum biology of consciousness
3 MIN READ
0
Nutrition, pheromones and cancer (2)
2 MIN READ
0
The new light of chromosomal rearrangements
3 MIN READ
0
Chromosomal rearrangements and ecological adaptations
4 MIN READ
0
Don't tell the Creationists
2 MIN READ
0
Understanding the role of mutations and evolution
4 MIN READ
0
Evolved development of olfactory systems
2 MIN READ
0
Music to our ears and song in birds: a common sense approach
2 MIN READ
0
The challenges of a Darwinian approach to anything
3 MIN READ
0
Never too young to learn WHAT?
< 1 MIN READ
0
Desmond Morris Syndrome: No selective advantage
2 MIN READ
0
Fatal attractions: a fear of pheromones
2 MIN READ
0
Olfactory modulation of visual perception
2 MIN READ
0
The Knowing Nose: Chemical Signals Communicate Human Emotions
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones: Epigenetic Effects of Odors and Their Affects on Behavior
2 MIN READ
0
How Species Diversify
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromonemotionally speaking
2 MIN READ
0
Nobel laureate challenges psychologists to clean up their act
2 MIN READ
0
Playing with breasts (e.g, with a new THEORY of why only heterosexual men love them)
3 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and multicellularity
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones from the bottom-up and top-down
3 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones are like sugar (and spice)
< 1 MIN READ
0
A thought experiment
3 MIN READ
0
Brain Activation Areas of Sexual Arousal with Olfactory Stimulation in Men
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and the visual appeal of other people (Part one)
2 MIN READ
0
More than speculation: adaptive evolution in species from microbes to man
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and your immune system
< 1 MIN READ
0
No fooling; visual appeal is not determined by what we see
2 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones in Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and the “Bruce effect” in wild or domesticated horses and primates
2 MIN READ
0
They are what they eat, and so are we
2 MIN READ
0
How memory works
2 MIN READ
0
A Preoccupation With Modesty…
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromones: from microbes to man
< 1 MIN READ
0
The biology of behavior: Seeing more clearly
< 1 MIN READ
0
Effects of pheromones on menstrual synchrony and a gay man
2 MIN READ
0
Did viruses make mammals communicate with pheromones?
2 MIN READ
0
Do Pheromones Play a Role in Our Sex Lives: Scientific American
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones: 2010 Powerpoint slides and 2011 poster presentation
2 MIN READ
0
Epigentics and the baby connectome
2 MIN READ
0
Cookbook chemistry: food odors and hormones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Epigenetics and the connectome
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and food odors
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and the Evolution of Drug Resistance
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones provide clues to personality
< 1 MIN READ
0
How pheromones work (in 57 words or more)
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromone-enhanced behavior in sexually inexperienced females
2 MIN READ
0
Avian ‘Axe effect’ attracts attention of females and males
2 MIN READ
0
Scents of Adolescence: Are you blind?
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones: social odors and food odors
< 1 MIN READ
0
Honeybees, food odors, and perfume
< 1 MIN READ
0
Avian recognition of human faces
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones Affect Women's Behavior
2 MIN READ
0
A lesser role for olfaction and pheromones in humans?
1 MIN READ
0
Creating a Myth
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromones in birds, other mammals, and us
< 1 MIN READ
0
The great pheromone myth revisited (including biological factors in the development of sexuality)
4 MIN READ
0
The great pheromone myth revisited (including biological factors in the development of sexuality)
4 MIN READ
0
Social selection: genetic contribution of viruses to life on earth
< 1 MIN READ
0
Wikipedia comments by James V. Kohl
5 MIN READ
0
Excellent new book about pheromones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Study design| Psychophysics experiment | Perspective on conditioning
< 1 MIN READ
0
Adrenarche and odor preferences
2 MIN READ
0
For ethologists: Observation does not trump molecular biology
2 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones and The Philosophy of Science
2 MIN READ
0
Genes, Hormones, and Behavior (for other scientists)
4 MIN READ
0
Love at first sight: Selective breeding, pheromones, and Divine intervention
3 MIN READ
0
A fundamental attribution error: Love at first sight
3 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Debunking the myth of pheromones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Tears and fears of pheromones
2 MIN READ
0
Exotic Pheromones and Concentrates
2 MIN READ
0
Marketing vs. the truth about human pheromones
2 MIN READ
0
Epigenetics, science fiction, and scientific fact
2 MIN READ
0
Results: increased flirtatious behavior and self-reported attraction
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and sexual behavior in birds
< 1 MIN READ
0
Is it what he or she sees in you, or is it your pheromones?
2 MIN READ
0
Product comparisons and human pheromone sciences
3 MIN READ
0
Conditioning of the human pair bond by human pheromones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Conditioned sexual arousal to odor
2 MIN READ
0
Scent signals
< 1 MIN READ
0
Comparing visual to olfactory/pheromonal input
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and signature mixtures
2 MIN READ
0
Comparative biology of pheromonal communication
< 1 MIN READ
1
Food preferences and mate preferences
< 1 MIN READ
0
Presentation on Human Pheromones delivered on August 3, 2010
2 MIN READ
0
Sold on the human VNO?
< 1 MIN READ
0
Effects of pheromones attributed to touch (in mice)
< 1 MIN READ
0
How pheromones work by James V. Kohl
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromones of pregnant women effect prolactin in men
< 1 MIN READ
0
Another book author's comment on "The Great Pheromone Myth"
< 1 MIN READ
0
An attempt to change the concept
< 1 MIN READ
0
Luteinizing hormone, sex, and smell (18 years later)
2 MIN READ
0
