Abstract
It is well-established that the odor of mammalian blood is attractive to top predators such as tigers and wolves and aversive to prey species such as mice and rats. Recent studies have shown that the mammalian blood odor component trans-4,5-epoxy-(E)-2-decenal (TED) elicits corresponding behavioral responses in these two groups of mammals. Here we assess whether a mesopredator, that is, a small-bodied carnivorous mammal that is both predator and prey, is attracted to or repelled by the odor of mammalian blood and TED. To this end, we assessed the behavior of a group of 15 captive meerkats (Suricata suricatta) when presented with wooden logs that were impregnated either with horse blood or with TED, and compared it to their behavior toward a fruity odor (iso-pentyl acetate) and a near-odorless solvent (diethyl phthalate). We found that the meerkats displayed significantly more interactions with the odorized wooden logs such as sniffing and pawing when these were impregnated with the two prey-associated odors compared to the two non-prey-associated odors. Most importantly, no significant difference was found in the number of interactions with the wooden logs impregnated with horse blood and TED, respectively. These results demonstrate that meerkats, despite being small-bodied mesopredators, are clearly attracted to the odor of mammalian blood. Further, the results suggest that a single blood odor component can be as efficient as the odor of real blood in eliciting behavioral responses in this herpestid mammal, similar to previous findings in feline and canine top predators.
Highlights
The vast majority of naturally occurring odor stimuli are highly complex mixtures composed of dozens or even hundreds of volatile compounds (Ohloff, 1994; Sell, 2014)
A high olfactory sensitivity for such a “key” or “character impact” compound should be expected in species for which the corresponding odor mixture is behaviorally relevant (Laska et al, 2005; Sarrafchi et al, 2013)
The tigers and wolves were attracted to and the mice were repelled by trans-4,5-epoxy-(E)-2-decenal (TED), a single component of mammalian blood odor which has been described by humans as having a typical “metallic, bloodlike” odor quality (Buettner and Schieberle, 2001). These findings suggest that TED might be a “key” or “character impact” compound which determines or at least contributes to the reliable recognition of blood odor
Summary
The vast majority of naturally occurring odor stimuli are highly complex mixtures composed of dozens or even hundreds of volatile compounds (Ohloff, 1994; Sell, 2014). One possible strategy for an animal to recognize a complex odor mixture is to rely on only one or a few “key” or “character impact” compound(s) which determine its odor identity (Dunkel et al, 2014). This strategy, requires that the compound in question is reliably present in the odor mixture and that it can be reliably detected against the noise of the other compounds (Nehring et al, 2013). A high olfactory sensitivity for such a “key” or “character impact” compound should be expected in species for which the corresponding odor mixture is behaviorally relevant (Laska et al, 2005; Sarrafchi et al, 2013)
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