Scent communication

Pheromones are volatile chemicals that allow communication between individuals via air or water, over a distance which can be quite long. That is, one individual animal produces and emits a chemical that changes the biochemistry and physiology of another member of the same species. This can result in changes in social or sexual behaviour. The pheromones are known more generally as smells or scents. Communication via pheromones is well... 

As in other sensoiy modalities, sex differences of anatomical structures such as scent glands, chemical composition of secretions, and behaviors associated with scent communication are more pronounced in species with polygamous mating systems than those with monogamy. 

Gregory, M. J. and Cameron, G. N. (1989). Scent communication and its association with dominance behavior in the Hispid cotton rat [Sigmodon hispidus). Journal of Mammalogy 70,10-17. 

This exercise and the next both deal with scent communication in mice. We practice two techniques frequently used in the Animal Behavior laboratory In this first experiment, we test a mammal s response to conspecific odors in a two-way choice apparatus, also called a Y- or T-maze, an often used bioassay device. [In the following experiment (Chap. 21), we observe and quantify scent marking behavior in response to two different stimuli in an open field. ]... 

Thom, M. D., Beynon, R. J., and Hurst, J. L., submitted. The role of the major histoeompatibiiity complex in scent communication, this volume. 

Koontz, F. W. 1984. Sternal Gland Scent Communication in the Rufous Elephant-Shrew, Elephantulus Rufescens Peters, with Additional Observations on Behavior and Reproduction in Captivity. Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. 

Chemical communication research is lacking in theoretical approaches (see, for example, Perrigo and Bronson, 1983 Sokolov et al., 1984). It should proceed within the context and theory of organic evolution, in which an active area of research has been sexual selection. Sexual selection depends on the advantage which certain individuals have over other individuals of the same sex and species in exclusive relation to reproduction, and it can affect an animal s glands for emitting odours (Darwin, 1871). Recent comments on sexual selection in mammals (Blaustein, 1981 Arnold and Houck, 1982) have stressed the possible role of scent communication without citing any comparative analyses of closely related species. 

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