Volatile odours reflect breeding status but not social group membership in captive Damaraland mole-rats

dc.contributor.authorNichols, Hazel J.
dc.contributor.authorCaspers, Barbara A.
dc.contributor.authorArbuckle, Kevin
dc.contributor.authorBennett, Nigel Charles
dc.contributor.authorHoffman, Joseph I.
dc.date.accessioned2025-05-28T09:19:23Z
dc.date.available2025-05-28T09:19:23Z
dc.date.issued2025-04
dc.descriptionDATA AVAILABILITY : Data and R code supporting this paper are available at Figshare: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.26271457.
dc.description.abstractIn mammals, olfaction plays a key role in social behaviour, for example, in identifying mating opportunities and potential rivals. However, we still have a limited understanding of how social information is encoded in animal odours, including the social determinants of chemical similarity and diversity. Here, we used gas chromatography to analyse the chemical composition of swabs taken from the facial and anogenital regions of Damaraland mole-rats, Fukomys damarensis, a highly social subterranean mammal that relies almost exclusively on olfactory and tactile social cues. We found no sign of individual identity across the two body areas sampled; samples from the facial region and samples of the anogenital region from the same individual were not similar to each other, suggesting that these regions carry different information. However, chemical profiles varied significantly by sex and breeding status; female breeders differed from nonbreeders in their anogenital profiles and had higher chemical diversity in their facial profiles compared with both males and nonbreeders. Interestingly, we found no signals of social group identity. Instead, individual identity may be conveyed through signature mixes that are learned through frequent contact, rather than through specific odours associated with genetic kinship or social group membership. Our results highlight the complexity of chemical communication systems in social species and suggest that signals of group level identity are not necessary for behavioural responses based on group membership.
dc.description.departmentMammal Research Institute
dc.description.departmentZoology and Entomology
dc.description.librarianhj2025
dc.description.sdgSDG-15: Life on land
dc.description.sponsorshipAn Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship; a Leverhulme Trust International Fellowship; and a University of Pretoria Staff Exchange Bursary.
dc.description.urihttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehav
dc.identifier.citationNichols, H.J., Caspers, B.A., Arbuckle, K. ET AL. 2025, 'Volatile odours reflect breeding status but not social group membership in captive Damaraland mole-rats', Animal Behaviour, vol. 222, art. 123015, pp. 1-9, doi : 10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.10.029.
dc.identifier.issn0003-3472 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1095-8282 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.10.029
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/102553
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.rights© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
dc.subjectChemical communication
dc.subjectInfochemical
dc.subjectMole-rats
dc.subjectOlfaction
dc.subjectScent communication
dc.titleVolatile odours reflect breeding status but not social group membership in captive Damaraland mole-rats
dc.typeArticle

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