Territoriality scent matching

The precise effects of territorial scent marks on conspecifics are still a matter of debate. They may warn of a possible agonistic encounter and/or induce a state of increased probability to loose a fight. Gosling (1982) proposed that an intruder matches the scent of a competitor, or of a mark it is seen to have made, with that of other marks nearby. If the odors match, the competitor is probably... 

Scent-matching is not the only way that conspecifics might use scent marks to assess an individual s competitive ability and we suggest that it is just one part of a more general mechanism that both competitors and potential mates use to assess the competitive ability of a territory owner, or of a dominant individual in a non-territorial or group-territorial social system. 

Owners could advertise their identity using a "territory owner pheromone," but existing observations support an alternative idea which I have presented elsewhere (Gosling, 1982). This is that owners distribute scent marks in their territory where they are most likely to be detected by intruders and then provide an opportunity for intruders to compare the smell of the marks with their own smell. If the smells match, then the animal that the intruder has met must be the territory owner. 

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