Scent marking individual recognition

Petrulis A. and Johnston R. (1999). Lesions centered on the medial amygdala impair scent-marking and sex-odor recognition, but spare discrimination of individual odors in female golden hamsters. Behav Neurosci 113, 345-357. 

During direct interactions, or when eavesdropping on interactions between others, recognition may involve a wide range of cues such as scent, visual and/or vocal characteristics, together with more complex information such as individual-specific behavioural patterns and location. In addition, many mammals use scent marks deposited in the environment to provide information in their absence. These scent marks can only inform about a specific individual if the scent encodes a reliable signal of individual ownership. Here, we discuss the characteristics required of ownership signals in scent marks and review recent studies from our laboratory that have attempted to ascertain the... 

Recognizing whether scent marks are own or from another equivalent male is only one aspect of individual ownership recognition. It is also important to establish whether and how animals recognize the owners of scents from different individuals that are equal... 

Odors are involved in several aspects of the life cycles of animals scent marking, kin, caste, age, conspecifics, individual, social status, physiological status and sexual recognition, territorial marking, mating, sexual attraction, alarm, predator-prey interaction, defense, migration, reproductive isolation and feeding. 

Black-tailed deer possess three glands which along with urine play a role in social chemical communication among their conspecifics. The tarsal scents acts in individual recognition, the metatarsal odor functions as an alarm pheromone and the substances from the forehead are employed for marking (193). 

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