ArticleEcology and evolution2020
Sweet tooth: Elephants detect fruit sugar levels based on scent alone.
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ethanol ingestion via frugivory in wild chimpanzees.Science advances · 2025Article
- Differences in Olfactory Discrimination, but Not Sensitivity, Between African Savanna and Asian Elephants.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Fossil evidence of proboscidean frugivory and its lasting impact on South American ecosystems.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation.Learning & behavior · 2025Review
- A "Dock-Work" Orange: A Dual-Receptor Biochemical Theory on the Deterrence Induced by Citrusy Aroma on Elephant Traffic Central to a Conservation Effort.Bioinformatics and biology insights · 2025Article
- Effects of temperature gradient on functional fruit traits: an elevation-for-temperature approach.BMC ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Seed dispersal syndrome predicts ethanol concentration of fruits in a tropical dry forest.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- The deterrent effects of individual monoterpene odours on the dietary decisions of African elephants.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- The Promise of an Evolutionary Perspective of Alcohol Consumption.Neuroscience insights · 2023Review
- TheFEMS microbes · 2023Article
- Fruit scent as an honest signal for fruit quality.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Anatomy and dietary specialization influence sensory behaviour among sympatric primates.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- The Olfactory Landscape Concept: A Key Source of Past, Present, and Future Information Driving Animal Movement and Decision-making.Bioscience · 2022Article
- Acknowledging the Relevance of Elephant Sensory Perception to Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- African elephants can detect water from natural and artificial sources via olfactory cues.Animal cognition · 2022Article
- The evolution of fruit scent: phylogenetic and developmental constraints.BMC evolutionary biology · 2020Article
- Sweet tooth: Elephants detect fruit sugar levels based on scent alone.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
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 capable of assessing fruit sugar levels based on scent alone. Using a paired-choice test of marula fruits (
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