Territorial behaviors beaver castoreum

C.jHjjNOj, Mr 249.35, mp. 64.5-65.6 C, [a]g -80 (CHCI3). Castor fiber), which is of importance for the perfume industry. The animals use the glands for territorial marking. Apart from alkaloids like C. the castoreum contains phenolic compounds that influence the behavior of the animals C. itself does not appear to play a role. ... 

Previous studies have demonstrated that castoreum is used by the beaver to signal territoriality (e.g., Muller-Schwarze 1992). The coding of chemical signals in the castoreum can be understood through the combination of chemical analyses and behavioral bioassay of castoreum compounds. For chemical analyses, Walbaum and Rosenthal (1927) first identified four neutral compounds, and later Lederer (1946, 1949) found nine neutral and 15 phenolic compounds in castoreum mixtures. Several more compounds were added by Valenta et al. (1960) and Ohloff (1976), and recently Tang et al. (1993, 1995) found 13 more neutral and 15 more phenolic compounds in the castoreum. At present, we do not have exact knowledge about how castoreum compounds are formed and how many compounds are present in the castor sac. Evidence, however, shows that numerous castoreum compounds are derived from plants beavers eat (Muller-Schwarze 1992). 

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