Sniff Your Bird -- For the Sake of Research!

If you would like a chance to play a role in a research experiment involving birds, all you have to do is walk over to your pet, reach out to them and give them a big old sniff -- that's right -- smell your bird! Planned Parrothood, a site full of information about pet birds, has formed two research associations known as S.N.I.F.F.™ (Society of Nasal Investigation of Feathered Friends), and A.R.O.M.A.S™ (Association for Researching Odors Manifest in Avian Species), which are dedicated to studying the different odors that birds emit, as well as the sensitivity of a bird's sense of smell. It is the belief of S.N.I.F.F. and A.R.O.M.A.S. that illness and physical changes in pet birds can be distinguished by the way that the bird smells. In order to further their research, they have set up a user submission page so that you can get your bird in on the action. Why not stop by and add your observations to the study? You never know -- your bird may help make a scientific breakthrough that could change the face of aviculture as we know it!

Photo (c) 2006 Alyson Burgess licensed to About.com, Inc. (LINKTEXT)