Discrimination of familiarity and sex from chemical cues in the dung by wild southern white rhinoceros
- PMID:25273823
- DOI: 10.1007/s10071-014-0810-8
Discrimination of familiarity and sex from chemical cues in the dung by wild southern white rhinoceros
Abstract
Communication in rhinos is primarily mediated by the vocal and olfactory signals as they have relatively poor eyesight. White rhinos are the most social of all the rhinoceros species, they defecate at common dungheaps and the adult bulls use dung and urine to mark their territory. Chemical communication may therefore be particularly important in the social interactions of white rhinos, and its knowledge could be very helpful in their management and conservation. However, no studies have investigated up until now the olfactory discrimination in any rhinoceros species in the wild. We have experimentally studied the reactions of the wild southern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) to the dung of familiar and unfamiliar adult females and adult territorial males. We registered the number of sniffing events, the duration of sniffing and the latency of the vigilance posture from the onset of sniffing. The dung of unfamiliar rhinos was sniffed longer than that of familiar rhinos. The rhinos showed a shorter latency of vigilance posture to the familiar dung of males than that of females. For unfamiliar dung, they displayed a shorter latency of vigilance posture to female than male dung. Our results indicate that the rhinos are able to discriminate the familiarity and sex of conspecifics from the smell of their dung. Olfactory cues could therefore play an important role in the social relationships and spatial organization of the southern white rhinoceros.
Similar articles
- Sex and species recognition by wild male southern white rhinoceros using contact pant calls.Cinková I, Policht R.Cinková I, et al.Anim Cogn. 2016 Mar;19(2):375-86. doi: 10.1007/s10071-015-0940-7. Epub 2015 Nov 18.Anim Cogn. 2016.PMID:26577089
- Ritualised Dung Kicking by White Rhino Males Amplifies Olfactory Signals but Reduces Odour Duration.Marneweck C, Jürgens A, Shrader AM.Marneweck C, et al.J Chem Ecol. 2018 Oct;44(10):875-885. doi: 10.1007/s10886-018-0988-3. Epub 2018 Jul 16.J Chem Ecol. 2018.PMID:30009329
- Contact calls of the northern and southern white rhinoceros allow for individual and species identification.Cinková I, Policht R.Cinková I, et al.PLoS One. 2014 Jun 5;9(6):e98475. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098475. eCollection 2014.PLoS One. 2014.PMID:24901244Free PMC article.
- Pheromones in birds: myth or reality?Caro SP, Balthazart J.Caro SP, et al.J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2010 Oct;196(10):751-66. doi: 10.1007/s00359-010-0534-4. Epub 2010 May 21.J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2010.PMID:20490809Free PMC article.Review.
- Human pheromones and sexual attraction.Grammer K, Fink B, Neave N.Grammer K, et al.Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2005 Feb 1;118(2):135-42. doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2004.08.010.Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2005.PMID:15653193Review.
Cited by
- Symbiotic microbiota and odor ensure mating in time for giant pandas.Ma R, Zheng W, Guo J, Hou R, Huang H, Xue F, Zhou Y, Wu W, Huang C, Gu J, Feng F, Yu X, Liu J, Li Z, Zhang L, Lan G, Chen C, Bi W, Dai Q, Owens JR, Yang H, Gu X, Yan QG, Qi D.Ma R, et al.Front Microbiol. 2022 Nov 17;13:1015513. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1015513. eCollection 2022.Front Microbiol. 2022.PMID:36466630Free PMC article.
- Why wait to mark? Possible reasons behind latency from olfactory exploration to overmarking in four African equid species.Pluháček J, Tučková V, Šárová R, King SRB.Pluháček J, et al.Anim Cogn. 2022 Dec;25(6):1443-1452. doi: 10.1007/s10071-022-01625-5. Epub 2022 May 12.Anim Cogn. 2022.PMID:35554766
- Dung odours signal sex, age, territorial and oestrous state in white rhinos.Marneweck C, Jürgens A, Shrader AM.Marneweck C, et al.Proc Biol Sci. 2017 Jan 11;284(1846):20162376. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2376.Proc Biol Sci. 2017.PMID:28077775Free PMC article.
- Atrazine exposure shifts activity but has minimal effects on courtship in an agrobiont spider.Godfrey JA, Rypstra AL.Godfrey JA, et al.Ecotoxicology. 2019 Jul;28(5):499-506. doi: 10.1007/s10646-019-02041-1. Epub 2019 Apr 9.Ecotoxicology. 2019.PMID:30969405
- Chemical fingerprints reveal clues to identity, heterozygosity, and relatedness.Pitcher BJ, Charrier I, Harcourt RG.Pitcher BJ, et al.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Sep 8;112(36):11146-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1514278112. Epub 2015 Aug 26.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015.PMID:26311844Free PMC article.No abstract available.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical