Rhesus
macaques use their sense of smell to identify members of different social
groups and to confirm hierarchy
Date:
November 2, 2015
Source:
Springer
Rhesus
monkeys (Macaca mulatta) make use of
their sense of smell to distinguish between members of their own and other
social groups, according to new research, led by Stefanie Henkel (University of
Leipzig, Germany), published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and
Sociobiology.
Social
animals use their olfactory ability to distinguish between members of their own
species. This generally helps them defend their territories, or to find
sleeping sites or mating partners better. Primates, especially Old World
monkeys and apes, are said to have a poor sense of smell, but researchers are
now starting to realize that olfaction in these animals may play a greater role
in their social lives than previously thought.
In
contrast to previous studies on olfaction, the present study used a species
which does not have any distinct scent glands and does not perform scent
marking typical for olfactory communication among conspecifics. To investigate
the role of smell in rhesus macaques, Henkel et al. conducted a study on the
island Cayo Santiago in Puerto Rico (USA) during the non-mating season. The
experiment was designed to explore whether the monkeys can discriminate between
body odors of female group members and those of females from different social
groups. Body odor samples collected from 33 adult females were placed in
individual aerated metal containers. The researchers presented these odor
samples to 74 unrelated conspecifics, as identified from extensive pedigree
data available for this population, and observed their behavioral response.
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