Turkish hamster

Heth, G., Todrank, J. and Johnston, R.E. (1999) Similarity in the qualities of individual odors among kin and species in Turkish (Mesocricetus brandti) and golden (Mesocricetus auratus) hamsters. J. Comp. Psychol. 113, 321-326. 

This chapter summaries work done with golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and Turkish hamsters Mesocricetus brandti) designed to deepen the understanding of the mechanisms used in social recognition by individual odor cues. The research demonstrates the high degree of similarity in the odors of close relatives, the importance of social experience in discrimination of these odors, and the importance of these family similarities in odor for kin recognition. 

The experiments described above in section 3 provide behavioral evidence for the similarity of odors based on relatedness in golden hamsters and we have obtained similar results with Turkish hamsters (Heth, Todrank Johnston, unpublished observations). Similarity in the qualities of odors of individuals among family members could be the basis for cues used for kin recognition by phenotype matching. But, do hamsters recognize kin Do they treat close relatives differently than unrelated individuals ... 

Turkish hamster, Harderianectomized golden hamster, Harderianectomized golden hamster scented with fresh male Harderian gland homogenate, intact golden hamster. 

We have shown, following Murphy, (1977) that female golden hamsters display significantly more proceptive behavior to conspecific males than to males of the Turkish... 

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