In less time than it takes to read this sentence, hummingbirds can catch a whiff of potential trouble. That’s the result of new research showing, contrary to popular belief, the tiny birds do have an active sense of smell.

Researchers have known for some time that vultures have a highly sensitive sense of smell, with some species being compared to «airborne bloodhounds.» This is due in part to their large olfactory bulbs — tissue in the brain that controls smell.

However, hummingbirds’ olfactory bulbs are, like the rest of their bodies, extremely small. Earlier studies were unable to demonstrate that hummingbirds showed a preference for the smell of flowers containing nectar. In addition, flowers pollinated by birds generally don’t have strong odors, unlike those pollinated by insects. For these reasons, scientists did not previously believe the birds possessed the ability to smell things.

UCR scientists have now shown for the first time that not only can hummingbirds smell insects, but also that scent may help them stay out of danger while looking for nectar to eat. A paper describing their experiments has now been published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

«This is pretty exciting, as it is the first clear demonstration of hummingbirds using their sense of smell alone to make foraging decisions and avoid contact with potentially dangerous insects at a flower or feeder,» said Erin Wilson Rankin, associate entomology professor and study co-author.

For their experiments, the researchers allowed more than 100 hummingbirds to choose between two feeders, either sugar water alone, or sugar water plus one of several chemicals whose scent signaled the presence of an insect. There were no visual differences between the two feeders offered in each of the experiments.

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Materials provided by University of California — Riverside. Original written by Jules Bernstein. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.