can birds smell? That is do they have a sense of smell?

Answer 1

Apparently, most birds don't smell stuff very well and rely instead on their keen vision to find their victuals.

Vultures, as an exception, can smell dead stuff from a long ways off, but considering how much dead stuff tends to smell, I suspect this is no great feat.

A lot of seabirds, albatrosses and petrels and the like are said to be sensitive to the smell of fish oil, which is a good deal for them because they tend to eat a lot of fish, which of course tends to contain a lot of fish oil.

Sparrows, chickens, pigeons and ducks are believed to have a pretty good sense of smell. And in kiwis, which are funny looking things, the nostrils are set fairly well forward on the beak. This is believed to better help them smell out worms, of which kiwis, I am told, are very fond.

Answer 2

Most birds do not seem to have a good sense of smell. The kiwi is the only bird with nostrils at the end of its beak, rather than at the base, and has a good sense of smell as it probes the ground to find food. Vultures also seem to have a god sense of smell and can detect carcasses from great distances.

Answer 3

All birds have a sense of smell.

The sense of smell is not advanced in many species because most of them rely on their great eyesight (which is better than humans and can see a wider spectrum).

However, there are birds with an extra-ordinary sense of smell. Examples of this are new-world vultures (vultures in the Americas), a lot of sea birds (albatrosses, skuas) and the kiwi! These birds rely on their power of smell to find food most of the time and has puzzled a lot of scientists with their ability.

Answer 4

Most birds have a very poorly developed sense of smell. However birds that rely on smell to find food such as vultures, do have a highly developed sense of smell.

Answer 5

As a rule, birds have a very poor sense of smell. Some birds, such as vultures, have an extremely developed sense of smell, and can detect carrion from many miles away.

Answer 6

All birds have a very poor sense of smell. Except a few wild ones like vultures.

Answer 7

A turkey vulture has a very good sense of smell but a closely related black vulture does not. I thought that other vultures also had a very weak sense of smell and relied on thier very good eyesight. Most birds of prey have really a terrible sense of smell. It is so bad that a skunk doesn't deter them with its smell.

Answer 8

It depends on the bird. For example carrion scavenging birds like vultures do have a highly developed sense of smell, but most other birds do not, in fact they have almost none, and rely on their superb vision and hearing to detect food, not its smell.

Answer 9

Most do not...or have a very poor sense of smell. Some, as stated above, have a refined sense of smell such as carrion birds.

Answer 10

It is presumed that the size of olfactory organs and ability to smell are related and it may be true. However, this type of scientific assumption can be misleading. Sperm whales have huge brains yet none have gotten into MIT.