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Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on March 17, 2006
Chemical Senses 2006 31(5):437-443; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjj048
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Beyond Odor Discrimination: Demonstrating Individual Recognition by Scent in Lemur Catta

Elisabetta Palagi and Leonardo Dapporto

Centro Interdipartimentale Museo di Storia Naturale e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, Via Roma 79, 56011 Calci, Pisa, Italy

Correspondence to be sent to: Elisabetta Palagi, Centro Interdipartimentale Museo di Storia Naturale e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, Via Roma 79, 56011 Calci, Pisa, Italy. e-mail: betta.palagi{at}museo.unipi.it

The current study demonstrates, for the first time, the occurrence of olfactory individual recognition in a nonhuman primate species. The empirical demonstration of recognition systems requires 1) a set of cues produced by the sender (expression component), 2) the perception of these cues by the receiver (perception component), and 3) a functional response by the receiver (action component). On the basis of this framework, we analyzed by gas chromatography 35 brachial secretions collected from 10 males of Lemur catta. Moreover, we performed habituation/discrimination tests to demonstrate the perception component, and we designed a specific bioassay, based on territorial competition, to highlight a functional response to individual odors. We demonstrated that recognition of conspecific odors goes beyond the perception of cues other than individuality (familiarity, kin, season, age, and rank) and that the receiver actually forms a mental representation of a specific individual by its scent.

Key words: bioassays, brachial gland, gas chromatography, individual recognition, Lemur catta


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This article has been cited by other articles:


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 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
E. Palagi and L. Dapporto
Females do it better. Individual recognition experiments reveal sexual dimorphism in Lemur catta (Linnaeus 1758) olfactory motivation and territorial defence
J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2007; 210(15): 2700 - 2705.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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 Chem SensesHome page
E. S. Scordato, G. Dubay, and C. M. Drea
Chemical Composition of Scent Marks in the Ringtailed Lemur (Lemur catta): Glandular Differences, Seasonal Variation, and Individual Signatures
Chem Senses, June 1, 2007; 32(5): 493 - 504.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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