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Olfactory Prowess of the Kiwi

Nature volume 220, pages 1133–1134 (1968)Cite this article

Abstract

IN 1906 Benham published an account of his attempt to obtain direct evidence about the reputed ability of the kiwi to smell earthworms in soil1. Neither this effort nor a later one, described briefly by Strong2 in 1911, collected sufficient data to settle the question. Since then, comments in general treatises have ranged from open mindedness3 to flat assertions that the kiwi has unusually keen olfactory sensitivity4.

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References

  1. Benham, W. B., Nature, 74, 222 (1906).

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  2. Strong, R. M., J. Morphol., 22, 619 (1911).

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  3. Duncan, C. J., in A New Dictionary of Birds (edit. by Thomson, A. L.), 764 (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964).

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  4. Walls, G. L., The Vertebrate Eye, 650 (Cranbrook Inst. Sci., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 1942).

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  5. Bang, B. G., and Cobb, S., The Auk, 85, 55 (1968).

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  6. Wenzel, B. M., in Second Intern. Symp. Olfaction and Taste (edit. by Hayashi, T.), 203 (Pergamon, Oxford, 1967).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90024

    BERNICE M. WENZEL

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  1. BERNICE M. WENZEL
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WENZEL, B. Olfactory Prowess of the Kiwi. Nature 220, 1133–1134 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/2201133a0

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