Scent marking in gray opossums

CHARACTERISTICS OF SCENT MARKING BEHAVIOR IN MARSUPIALS AND MONOTREMES Scent Marking in Gray Opossums... 

Sex and age relationships to scent-marking in gray opossums. Male gray opossums marked significantly more frequently than females (P < 0.005). Males marked with head, flank and chest, while diestrous females marked only with head and flank. Gray opossums tended to place... 

Functional significance of scent-marking in gray opossums. 

Social aspects of scent-marking in gray opossums. As previously noted, little is known about the natural social behavior of gray opossums. In a laboratory study of sexual behavior in this species, males placed into cages recently occupied by females sniffed and then scent-marked areas of the cage using the chest, flank, and head (Trupin and Fadem, 1982). 

Chest-marking in the koala occurred primarily upon introduction to an unfamiliar tree and declined thereafter. Females rarely chest-marked (only one chest mark was seen in over 20 15-min trials), and highest levels of chest-marking behavior were seen in males 5-10 years old males 1-2 years old marked less frequently (Fig. 5). This is probably related to the fact that puberty occurs at between 1 and 3 years of age and the sternal gland first appears at about 1 year of age in this species (Thompson, personal communication). Thus, age, sex, and time-related aspects of scent-marking in the koala were remarkably similar to those seen in the gray opossum (c.f.. Fig. 1). 

Fadem, B. H., and Cole, E. A., 1985, Scent-marking in the gray shorttailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica), Anim. Behav., 33 in press. 

Various aspects of chemical communication have recently been studied and reported for one South American didelphid, the gray shorttailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica), hereafter referred to as the gray opossum. Scent-marking behavior was described and conspecific responses to olfactory cues quantified in a recent study (Fadem and Cole, 1985). 

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