An Olfactometric Study of the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis): Responses to Food and Scent Gland Secretions
Loading...
Authors
Brinkmeier, William G.
Issue Date
1990
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Juvenile American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis ) were
tested for responses to airborne chemicals from various meats, components
of beef, and to glandular secretions from the same species in order to
investigate the chemoreceptive ability of the species and possible chemical
communication. An olfactometer was used to observe the gular pump rates
of the subjects to the various stimuli. Gular pumps are associated with the
act of "sniffing" and are unrelated to respiration, therefore, they provide a
quantitative index of interest in chemical cues. Subjects exhibited a greater
frequency of gular pumping to the meat chemicals than to distilled water in
all of the experiments. Subjects also exhibited slight increases in gular
pump rates to the glandular secretions than to plain chloroform. These
experiments suggest that olfaction in alligators may play an important role
in the detection of airborne chemicals from meats and from the glandular
secretions of other conspecifics.
Description
vi, 32 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo College
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.