Thursday, 9 November 2022, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Free Zoom lecture with Danielle Whittaker
This Zoom lecture includes a live presentation followed by a Q&A.
Register in advance for this webinar at this link: The Secret Perfume of Birds. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
The Zoom registration link also will be emailed to SYVNHS members and friends.
The presentation recording will be posted online after the event.
The puzzling lack of evidence for the peculiar but widespread belief that birds have no sense of smell irked evolutionary biologist Danielle Whittaker. Exploring the science behind the myth led her on an unexpected quest investigating mysteries from how juncos win a fight to why cowbirds smell like cookies. In The Secret Perfume of Birds—part science, part intellectual history, and part memoir—Whittaker blends humor, clear writing, and a compelling narrative to describe how scent is important not just for birds but for all animals, including humans. Whittaker engagingly describes how emerging research has uncovered birds’ ability to produce complex chemical signals that influence their behavior, including where they build nests, when they pick a fight, and why they fly away. Mate choice, or sexual selection—a still enigmatic aspect of many animals’ lives—appears to be particularly influenced by smell. Whittaker’s pioneering studies suggest that birds’ sexy (and scary) signals are produced by symbiotic bacteria that manufacture scents in the oil that birds stroke on their feathers when preening. From tangerine-scented auklets to her beloved juncos, redolent of moss, birds from across the world feature in Whittaker’s stories, but she also examines the smelly chemicals of all kinds of creatures, from iguanas and bees to monkeys and humans.
Photo by Nicole Cottom.
Danielle J. Whittaker is an evolutionary biologist and the managing director of the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) at Oregon State University. From gibbons in Indonesia to the dark-eyed juncos of North America, her research focuses on the forces that influence animal behavior, mate selection, and, ultimately, evolution.
Danielle Whittaker’s book may be purchased from the publisher at this link: Hopkins Press, The Secret Perfume of Birds. Hopkins Press will provide attendees of the lecture a discount code for 30% off the book when they order directly.
