Laurie Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Ok, here's one that's been puzzling me. When we went to get Klaus, I swear the breeder said that African greys cannot smell or taste. I haven't been able to find anything to confirm this. I'm curious and would like to find out what you guys know about this... Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dblhelix Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 They can taste very well! It used to be thought that they had little or poor sense of smell since their cardiovascular systems are so specialized for efficient airflow. Recent studies have shown that almost all birds smell rather well and at least as fine as average mamals. Studies have shown various species using the sese of smell to find their ways home, identify family members and other functions.<br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/09/03 19:52 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest briansmum Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 thats rubbish! they can smell and they can taste, their taste is different to ours, take spicy things like chilli peppers, greys don't taste the "hotness" like we do, hence they quite enjoy them. try your grey with something particularly potent and you will find out. my grey gets all puffy, shakes his head and wiggles his tongue when he has a lick of one of his daddys pickled onion monster munch (corn/maize snacks, i think) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted September 4, 2007 Author Share Posted September 4, 2007 Thanks ... I thought it would be odd if they couldn't. I mean why would they have favorite foods if they couldn't taste? It didn't make sense, but again I only heard it that one time. Oddly, it's not addressed in my parrot book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 I think he is wrong, maybe their sense of smell is not that great, but they do have a sense of taste, I do know that. It will be interesting to see what some of the others have to say about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dblhelix Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 I updated my first post with a little more current data... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monique Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Lot's of interesting q&a today!! I love it!! This is from the San Diego Zoo's Web Site: Can birds smell? A few birds can smell extremely well. For example, vultures can smell a carcass on the ground from a mile (kilometer) up in the sky. But most birds don't have much of a sense of smell, because they use their other senses, especially sight and hearing, to find their food and mates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Parrots only have 250 to 350 taste buds compared with the 9000 or so we ... yes they can taste.Grey can smell, they use their sense of smell to detect where its snack is hidden ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Thanks you all for clearing that up for us. I wasn't sure before but I am now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Wow! That's a lot of well researched information. Very good! Thank you. This should be written in an article and put in the FAQ section. Anyone??? :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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