Sweet tooth: Elephants detect fruit sugar levels based on scent alone.

ABSTRACT: The ability to assess food quality is crucial to all organisms. Fleshy fruits are a major source of nutrients to various animals, and unlike most food sources, have evolved to be attractive and to be consumed by animals to promote seed dispersal. It has recently been established that fruit scent-the bouquet of volatile chemicals emitted by ripe fruit-is an evolved communication system between plants and animals. Further, it has been argued that chemicals that are synthesized from sugar and its products may be an honest signal for sugar content and fruit quality. Elephants are important seed dispersers for numerous species and possess an olfactory system that is likely to outperform most other animals. We tested the hypothesis that fruit scent signifies sugar content and that elephants are

SUBMITTER: Nevo O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7593167 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature