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. 2017 Oct 19;7(1):13593.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-12706-8.

Odour dialects among wild mammals

Eleanor Freya Kean  1 , Michael William Bruford  1 , Isa-Rita M Russo  1 , Carsten Theodor Müller  1 , Elizabeth Anna Chadwick  2
Affiliations

Odour dialects among wild mammals

Eleanor Freya Kean et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Across multiple taxa, population structure and dynamics depend on effective signalling between individuals. Among mammals, chemical communication is arguably the most important sense, underpinning mate choice, parental care, territoriality and even disease transmission. There is a growing body of evidence that odours signal genetic information that may confer considerable benefits including inbreeding avoidance and nepotism. To date, however, there has been no clear evidence that odours encode population-level information in wild mammals. Here we demonstrate for the first time the existence of 'odour dialects' in genetically distinct mammalian subpopulations across a large geographical scale. We found that otters, Lutra lutra, from across the United Kingdom possess sex and biogeography-specific odours. Subpopulations with the most distinctive odour profiles are also the most genetically diverse but not the most genetically differentiated. Furthermore, geographic distance between individuals does not explain regional odour differences, refuting other potential explanations such as group odour sharing behaviour. Differences in the language of odours between subpopulations have the potential to affect individual interactions, which could impact reproduction and gene-flow.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of otter anal gland samples across four genetically distinct subpopulations in England and Wales. Pink = Wales and Borders (W&B), Red = South-west England (SW), blue = North England (NE), Green = Central England (CE). Samples outside the four subpopulations were excluded from the present analysis. Map created using ArcGIS® software ArcMap™ 10.1 Copyright © Esri www.esri.com. Outline of genetically distinct subpopulations created using data from Hobbs et al..
Figure 2
Figure 2
Partial discrimination between four genetically distinct sup-populations based on otter odour. Ordination plot of linear discriminants (LDs) 1 and 2 of the total otter VOCs. Ellipses represent the 95% confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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