scholarly journals A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian C. Colquhoun
Keyword(s):  
Social Dominance ◽  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Comparative Data ◽  
Olfactory Communication ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Interspecific Comparison ◽  
Sex Recognition ◽  
Comparative Review

This paper provides a comparative review of the known patterns of olfactory behavioural ecology among the nocturnal strepsirhine primates and the cathemeral lemurid genusEulemur. Endemic to Madagascar, allEulemurspecies exhibit both diurnality and nocturnality (i.e., cathemerality), and are gregarious, making them an interesting group of taxa to compare with the nocturnal strepsirhines. This paper represents the first comparative review of patterns of olfactory communication among the nocturnal strepsirhines and the cathemeralEulemurspecies. Inductive assessment of these comparative data indicates that olfactory communication serves multiple functions in both groups, including individual recognition, sex recognition, indication of social dominance, and coordination of mating behaviour. However, the urine-washing behaviour characteristic of many nocturnal strepsirhines has no clear homologue amongEulemurspecies (although the latter may use urine droplets in scent marking). Despite sparse and scattered comparative data, it appears thatEulemurspecies exhibit different olfactory communication patterns that are associated with differing social organizations in this genus.

Observations on the behaviour and ecology of the Common Wombat Vombatus ursinus in northeast Tasmania.

1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
R.J. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Average Density ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Faecal Pellets ◽  
Common Wombat ◽  
The Common

Aspects of the behaviour and ecology of Vombatus ursinus were studied in largely cleared agricultural land in a coastal area in northeast Tasmania. The average density of V. ursinus was 20 individuals.km-2 over the whole study area but around 60.km-2 in an intensively studied section. Burrows were concentrated in areas of sandy soil where a dense cover of native vegetation had been maintained. Only short, shallow burrows were present in areas of dolerite, probably because of the difficulty of digging. Home-ranges of different individuals overlapped. Wombats were not active continually through the night and varied in time of emergence from their burrow and the time spent above ground. Often more than one burrow was used on the same night, with more than one individual making use of a burrow, but usually not at the same time. Disputes over the use of burrows occurred. Individuals frequently sniffed around burrows and investigated for the presence of occupants. Males may use this as a strategy for finding females in oestrus. Mating behaviour was observed once. Wombats are solitary and actively avoid the presence of others. Odour in faecal pellets and from scent marking probably plays an important social role by providing information on the individuals sharing a home-range and the occurrence of strangers. Dominant animals may be intolerant of the presence of certain individuals within their home-range.

scholarly journals Experimental Evaluation of Spontaneous Olfactory Discrimination in Two Nocturnal Primates (Microcebus murinus and M. lehilahytsara)

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (7) ◽  
pp. 581-592
Author(s):  
Annika Kollikowski ◽  
Selina Jeschke ◽  
Ute Radespiel
Keyword(s):  
Scent Marking ◽  
Reproductive Season ◽  
Urine Samples ◽  
Olfactory Communication ◽  
Additional Tool ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Mouse Lemurs ◽  
Female Urine ◽  
Urine Odor ◽  
Solitary Species

Abstract Solitary species often employ chemocommunication to facilitate mate localization. In the solitarily foraging, nocturnal mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.), females advertise their short period of estrus acoustically and by increased scent marking, whereas males search widely for receptive females. Both sexes can be trained by operant conditioning to discriminate conspecific from heterospecific urine scent. However, it is not known, if males during and outside the reproductive season show different spontaneous interest in conspecific female urine, and if urine from estrous females elicits a higher investigation response than that from diestrous females. We established a spontaneous discrimination paradigm and quantified olfactory investigation responses of 21 captive male mouse lemurs of M. lehilahytsara and M. murinus when presenting 1 conspecific and 1 heterospecific female urine odor sample simultaneously. Overall, M. murinus investigated stimuli significantly longer than M. lehilahytsara. Moreover, males of M. murinus showed significantly longer olfactory investigation at conspecific urine samples during but not outside the reproductive season. This indicates that female urinary cues are spontaneously discriminated by male M. murinus and that this discrimination is more relevant during the reproductive season. However, males of both species did not show different responses toward urine samples from estrous versus diestrous females. Finally, male age did not correlate with the overall duration of olfactory investigation, and investigation levels were similar when testing with fresh or frozen urine samples. In conclusion, this new spontaneous discrimination paradigm provides a useful additional tool to study olfactory communication of nocturnal primates from the receiver’s perspective.

The effect of social odour context on the amount of time male meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, self-groom

Behaviour ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 157 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 879-900
Author(s):  
Ryan C. Scauzillo ◽  
Michael H. Ferkin
Keyword(s):  
Social Information ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Olfactory Communication ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Terrestrial Mammals ◽  
Target Individual ◽  
The Social ◽  
Grooming Behaviour

Abstract Communicational behaviours by individuals provide information for not only the intended target(s) of the signal but any non-target individual(s) that may be nearby. For terrestrial mammals a major form of communication and social information is through odours via scent marking and self-grooming. Self-grooming is a ubiquitous behaviour in mammals with the function thought to primarily be centred on personal care. But it has been found in rodents that self-grooming will occur in the presence of social odours thus potentially serving a communicative role. For example, male meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) self-groom in the presence of a female conspecific odour but not a male conspecific odour. Most studies examining self-grooming as a form of olfactory communication have used single odour donors but in a natural environment individuals will come across complex social odour situations. Therefore, we examined how male meadow voles respond to complex social odours with regards to their self-grooming behaviour. We tested the hypothesis that self-grooming can act as a form of olfactory communication and that male meadow voles will control this behaviour measured by differences in self-grooming rates based on social contexts. Male meadow voles did not show differences in the amount of time spent self-grooming to social odours that contained a female and varying number of rival males (0, 1, 3, or 5) or if the social odour contained an acquainted or novel male. Male meadow voles did self-groom more to a social odour that contained a female and a younger male compared to when the social odour contained a female and older male. Male meadow voles appear to adjust their self-grooming behaviour based on the context of the social information. This may be a strategy that can maximize that individual’s fitness by adjusting how much information is provided to potential rivals and mates.

Odor-Mediated Group Organization and Coordination in the Termite-Raiding Ant Megaponera analis (Mayr)

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 635-644
Author(s):  
Abdullahi A Yusuf ◽  
Erik T Frank ◽  
Ayuka T Fombong ◽  
Christian W W Pirk ◽  
Robin M Crewe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Olfactory Communication ◽  
Sound Communication ◽  
Odor Compounds ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Conspecific Odors ◽  
Intraspecific Communication ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Group Hunting

Abstract Visual and olfactory communications are vital for coordinated group hunting in most animals. To hunt for prey, the group-raiding termite specialist ant Megaponera analis, which lacks good vision, must first confirm the presence or absence of conspecific raiders. Here, we show that M. analis uses olfactory cues for intraspecific communication and showed greater preference for conspecific odors over clean air (blank) or odors from its termite prey. Chemical analysis of ant volatiles identified predominantly short-chained hydrocarbons. Electrophysiological analysis revealed differential sensory detection of the odor compounds, which were confirmed in behavioral olfactometric choice assays with odor bouquets collected from major and minor castes and the 2 most dominant volatiles and n-undecane n-tridecane. A comparative analysis of the cuticular hydrocarbon profile with those of the short-chained odor bouquet of different populations shows a high divergence in the long-chained profile and a much-conserved short-chained odor bouquet. This suggests that there is less selection pressure for divergence and individual recognition in the short- than the long-chained odor profiles. We conclude that olfactory communication serves as an alternative to visual or sound communication, especially during group raids in M. analis when ants are not in direct contact with one another.

scholarly journals Evidence that St. Helena island is an important multi-use habitat for whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, with the first description of putative mating in this species

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Clingham ◽  
Judith Brown ◽  
Leeann Henry ◽  
Annalea Beard ◽  
Alistair D Dove
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Whale Shark ◽  
Rhincodon Typus ◽  
Pregnant Females ◽  
Contact Behaviour ◽  
Whale Sharks ◽  
St Helena

Preliminary observations of whale shark behavioural ecology are presented from St. Helena, a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic. Whale shark sightings by fishers, government biologists and the general public have been recorded by the St. Helena Government since February 1999 and are presented here through to the end of 2014. A total of 328 sightings was collected on an ad hoc basis, a total of 931 animals, although the number of re-sightings within that total is not known. Increases in observations are likely coincident with increases in surveillance and public awareness of the presence of this species in the waters surrounding St Helena. On two occasions, small aggregations of whale sharks were observed at the bay at Jamestown; the animals were engaged in surface feeding behaviour similar to that seen in coastal aggregations in Mexico and Qatar. In contrast to other aggregations, however, animals observed at St Helena were numerically dominated by adult females, although mature males and some juveniles have also been observed. On two occasions, eyewitness accounts of mating behaviour were reported by two different reliable observers. These events took place in 2005 and 2007, both approximately 16 kilometers from shore, at different sites. They both involved belly-to-belly contact behaviour at the surface, in one case involving at least two males. This is the first report of putative mating behaviour in the whale shark. With the presence of both adult and juvenile animals, surface feeding aggregations, apparently pregnant females and the first observations of putative mating, the waters around St Helena are clearly an important multi-use habitat for whale sharks and are worthy of concerted conservation efforts.

scholarly journals Scent marking in Sunda clouded leopards (Neofelis diardi): Novel observations close a key gap in understanding felid communication behaviours

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
ML Allen ◽  
Heiko Wittmer ◽  
E Setiawan ◽  
S Jaffe ◽  
AJ Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Scent Marking ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Basic Information ◽  
Video Cameras ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Intraspecific Communication ◽  
Communication Behaviours ◽  
Felid Species

© 2016 Author(s). Intraspecific communication is integral to the behavioural ecology of solitary carnivores, but observing and quantifying their communication behaviours in natural environments is difficult. Our systematic literature review found that basic information on scent marking is completely lacking for 23% of all felid species, and information on 21% of other felid species comes solely from one study of captive animals. Here we present results of the first systematic investigation of the scent marking behaviours of Sunda clouded leopards in the wild. Our observations using motion-triggered video cameras in Indonesian Borneo are novel for clouded leopards, and contrary to previous descriptions of their behaviour. We found that clouded leopards displayed 10 distinct communication behaviours, with olfaction, scraping, and cheek rubbing the most frequently recorded. We also showed that males make repeated visits to areas they previously used for marking and that multiple males advertise and receive information at the same sites, potentially enhancing our ability to document and monitor clouded leopard populations. The behaviours we recorded are remarkably similar to those described in other solitary felids, despite tremendous variation in the environments they inhabit, and close a key gap in understanding and interpreting communication behaviours of clouded leopards and other solitary felids.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document