What's in a name? - Musk Lorikeet

I'm not sure if this is relevant or not, but i read last night that the Musk Duck was named as such, because the male in breeding season, excretes a musky odoured oil from a gland near its rump to attract female mates.

Perhaps a similar thing occurs with Musk Lorikeets?

Musk is considered one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs in nature, and  apparently it closely resembles the smell of  the testosterone-linked pheromone androstone.

The musky smell of Musk Ducks and Lorikeets, may be the smell of the androstone secretions.  

Colin wrote:
"Joseph Forshaw in "Australian Parrots" (2nd edition (1981) at p. 50 , ...... that in handling live Musk Lorikeets he has never noticed that they smelt any differently from other parrots."

It would be interesting to see how a female nose reacts to the smell of a breeding male musk lorikeet, since males are less attuned to the scent of this pheromone.

Peter
 

scouler <>
Sent by:

05/12/2003 01:07 PM

Please respond to

To	birding <>
cc
Subject	[BIRDING-AUS] What's in a name? - Musk Lorikeet

In his revised edition (1971) of Neville Cayley's "Australian Parrots
in
Field and Aviary",  Alan Lendon quotes (at p.24) from Cayley's
field
notes on the  Musk Lorikeet :" For a breeding place it usually
selects a
very small hole or the elbow of a limb of a tree, and mostly a living
gum tree. If one wishes to know, without chopping it out, if a hole is
occupied by the parrot, one has only to place one's nose near the hole;
if present the strong musky odour associated with the bird will be
evident."

But perhaps the "musky odour" emanates from conditions in the
nesting
hole rather than from the birds themselves. Joseph Forshaw in
"Australian Parrots" (2nd edition (1981) at p. 50 , noting the
received
wisdom as ro the origin of the bird's name, comments that in handling
live Musk Lorikeets he has never noticed that they smelt any differently
from other parrots.

Perhaps an aviculturalist or a zoo-keeper could comment further.

Regards,
Colin Scouler.




Scanned by PeNiCillin http://safe-t-net.pnc.com.au/

Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to