Scent marking strategies in mammals

Animal Scent Marking

Home range formation in wolves due to scent marking.

Social carnivores, such as wolves and coyotes, have distinct and well-defined home ranges. During the formation of these home ranges scent marks provide important cues regarding the use of space by familiar and foreign packs. Previous models for territorial pattern formation have required a den site as the organizational center around which the territory is formed. However, well-defined wolf ho...

Scent-marking in the yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris)

Cheek-marking in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) was studied by observations of cheek-marking in two colonies from 10 June to 6 August, 1996 and by experimental studies of responses to olfactory secretions from the perioral gland. The rate of cheek-marking declined significantly as the season progressed. Most cheek-marking occurred within 3 m of the main burrow system and was prim...

Scent-marking displays provide honest signals of health and infection

Males of many species produce scent marks and other olfactory signals that function to intimidate rivals and attract females. It has been suggested that scent marks provide an honest, cheat-proof display of an individual’s health and condition. Here we report several findings that address this hypothesis in wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus domesticus). (1) We exposed males to female odor, ...

Case marking strategies

Two strategies of case marking in natural languages are discussed. These are defined as two violable constraints whose effects are shown to converge in the case of differential object marking but diverge in the case of differential subject marking. The strength of the case bearing arguments will be shown to be of utmost importance for case marking as well as voice alternations. The strength of ...