Seabird makes citrusy bug repellant
By Susan Milius
Alaskan seabirds called crested auklets carry a citrus-smelling chemical in their feathers that could be one of the few examples ever found of a homegrown avian pest repellant.
Birds rub on themselves all kinds of substances alleged to repel pests, but biologists have found few species that grow their own chemical defenses, says Hector D. Douglas of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Such a substance has never turned up before in a seabird or in any bird that nests in big colonies.