Olfactory stimuli

Beltramino C. and Taleisnik S. (1983). Release of LH in the female rat by olfactory stimuli. Effect of the removal of the vomeronasal organs or lesioning of the accessory olfactory bulbs. Neuroendocrinology 36, 53-58. 

Pena, T., Pitts, R.C. and Galizio, M. (2006) Identity matching-to-sample with olfactory stimuli in rats. J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 85,203-221. 

There has been little study of the olfactory abilities of the great apes. Olfactory stimuli play an important role in guiding behaviour in many species (Stod-dart 1980). In the great apes, however, the role of olfaction has been questioned due to the perceived primacy of vision and audition in influencing behaviour (King and Forbes 1974 Dominy, Ross and Smith 2004). This has led to the label of micros-matic being applied to the apes. For most vertebrates, e.g. the dog, there is much evidence of the importance of olfaction in behaviour, and these species are termed macrosmatic (Smith and Bhatnagar 2004). 

Parkes, A.S. and Bruce, H.M. (1961) Olfactory stimuli in mammalian reproduction. Science. 134, 1049-1054. 

Galef, B. G., Jr. and Kaner, H. C. (1980) Establishment and maintenance of preference for natural and artificial olfactory stimuli in juvenile rats. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 94, 588-595. 

Soussignan, R., Schaal, B., Marlier, L., and Jiang, T. (1997). Facial and autonomic responses to biological and artificial olfactory stimuli in human neonates re-examining early hedonic discrimination of odors. Physiol. Behav. 62, 745-758. 

Olfactory enrichment should provide stimulation and choice whilst minimizing health risks. However, relatively few studies have reported their health and safety considerations. The most commonly used forms of olfactory stimuli are faeces and urine, and yet associated risks, for example when items are consumed during provision (Schaap 2002), are hardly mentioned in the literature. Pathogen and parasite testing will decrease risk of disease transmission, and pathogens and scents may be removed by exposing items to extremes of temperature Burr (1997) microwaved fetid hair before providing it to reptiles. 

Scent provision as a form of environmental enrichment is a complex issue in a zoo setting. Unfortunately, few attempts have been made to quantify the impact of introducing olfactory stimuli into zoo enclosures certainly there is a distinct lack of... 

Pioneering efforts to understand the nature of olfactory coding were reported by Adrian (24-27). His work introduced the ideas that different odors activate ORCs in different regions of the olfactory epithelium and that spatiotemporal patterns of ORC firing would suffice to encode different odors. Subsequent studies by many investigators and involving various recording methods (reviewed in refs. 13 and 28) led to the conclusion that, at various levels of the pathway, the olfactory system uses distributed neural activity to encode information about olfactory stimuli. 

Katner SN, Weiss F. 1999. Ethanol-associated olfactory stimuli reinstate ethanol-seeking behavior after extinction and modify extracellular dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 23(11) 1751-1760. 

In fish, both taste and olfactory stimuli are waterborne. However, taste involves the seventh, ninth or tenth cranial nerves, in contrast to the first cranial nerve for smell. Elasmobranchs have their taste buds in the mouth and pharynx, but in bony fish they occur around the gills, on barbels and pectoral fins, and also scattered over the rest of the body surface. They crowd particularly in the roof of the mouth, forming the palatal organ. The taste receptor cells are arranged as a bundle to form a taste bud. Like other vertebrates, fish have receptors for sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. For instance, goldfish reject quinine-treated food pellets (Jobling, 1995). Many fish species are particularly sensitive to acidic taste characteristics. The responses of fish to amino acids will be discussed in Chapter 12. 

Kittens rely little on olfactory stimuli to attach to the nipples of their mother. Instead, tactile cues are important. The mouth area and the trigeminal projection field mediate these tactile sensations (Blass etal, 1988). 

Olfactory stimuli emanating from the young guide initial bonding, subsequent recognition, and acceptance for nursing in a variety of mammals. 

In female cattle, olfactory stimuli are more important than visual cues for dominance relationships. In one experiment, the 10 most dominant of 30 Holstein cows were sprayed with anise oil, or painted. They were kept apart from the herd for 2 hours and then reintroduced. Visual alteration had no effect. However, olfactory alteration resulted in less interaction with other cows in the group. Specifically, other cows investigated the altered individuals less and reduced their submissive behavior toward them (Cummins and Myers, 1988). 

Visual and olfactory stimuli contribute to anti-snake responses in mammals California ground squirrels, Spermophilus beecheyi, flag their tail and kick sand at a rattlesnake, C. viridis, more often than at a gopher snake, P. melanoleucus. The squirrels kicked sand at and approached a snake in a perforated transparent bag more frequently than one in an intact hag. Visual and chemical cues are important, but the latter seem to he the primary releasers (Henessy and Owings, 1979). 

Resink, J. W., Voorthuis, P. K., van den Hurk, R., Peters, R. C., and van Oordt, P. G. W. J. (1989b). Steroid glucuronides of the seminal vesicle as olfactory stimuli in African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. Aquaculture 83,153-166. 

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