News From the Field
How Moths Key Into the Scent of a Flower
March 9, 2009
Although a flower's bouquet can be composed of hundreds of chemicals, the tobacco hornworm moth needs to smell just a handful to identify its favorite source of nectar, the sacred datura flower. It is the first time researchers have recorded an insect's brain activity as the animal smelled all the individual chemicals captured from a real flower. Previous research used only synthetic odors.
University of Arizona
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