Harriman A E, Berger R H
Physiol Behav. 1986;36(2):257-62. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(86)90013-2.
The efficacy with which ravens can locate concealed carrion and similar foods has been noted from antiquity. This ability has been claimed in folklore to indicate an acute sense of smell. Contemporary opinion among ornithologists is that the sense of smell is weak at best in passerines, and particularly so in corvids which lack developed olfactory apparatus. Four studies were performed to test whether ravens could find hidden food (fresh ground fish) under conditions where scent was presumed to be the sole cue. The subjects, captive juvenile ravens (five males and three females) capably chose which one in a pair of containers held food buried under 2.0 cm of No. 4 gravel, discovered food concealed under as much as 2.5 cm of gravel, and located as little as 1.0 g of food covered by 1.5 cm of gravel. The several findings are consistent with the possibility that ravens can use olfactory cues to find food.
乌鸦能够找到隐藏的腐肉和类似食物的能力自古以来就为人所知。在民间传说中，这种能力被认为表明其嗅觉敏锐。当代鸟类学家的观点是，雀形目鸟类的嗅觉充其量很弱，而鸦科鸟类尤其如此，因为它们缺乏发达的嗅觉器官。进行了四项研究，以测试乌鸦在假定气味是唯一线索的条件下是否能找到隐藏的食物（新鲜的碎鱼）。实验对象是圈养的幼年乌鸦（五只雄性和三只雌性），它们能够在一对容器中选择哪一个装有埋在2.0厘米厚的4号砾石下的食物，能发现隐藏在多达2.5厘米厚砾石下的食物，还能找到被1.5厘米厚砾石覆盖的少至1.0克的食物。这些研究结果与乌鸦能够利用嗅觉线索寻找食物的可能性相一致。
