Scent communication mammals

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. ]... 

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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