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IMAGE: Olfactory or smell-based imprinting is known to affect adulthood odor perception and behavior, but how does this happen? Scientists from Japan have now uncovered the molecular mechanism underlying this phenomenon.. view more
Credit: Hirofumi Nishizumi from University of Fukui
Imprinting is a popularly known phenomenon, wherein certain animals and birds become fixated on sights and smells they see immediately after being born. In ducklings, this can be the first moving object, usually the mother duck. In migrating fish like salmon and trout, it is the smells they knew as neonates that guides them back to their home river as adults. How does this happen?