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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Scent marking within and between groups of wild banded mongooses
Journal of Zoology, Volume 280, No. 1, Year 2010
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Description
Scent marking is commonly described as a territorial behaviour, and scent marks might deter potential intruders from entering occupied areas. Conspecific neighbours present both a reproductive and a territorial threat, thus, determining which, if any, of these threats shapes scent-marking behaviour is difficult. Banded mongooses Mungos mungo provide a rare clear separation between reproductive rivals (found within groups) and territorial rivals (neighbouring groups), because immigration into social groups is extremely rare, and mating occurs almost exclusively within groups. This situation offers an opportunity to assess the relative importance of territorial defence and intra-group competition for mates in shaping scent-marking behaviour. We combined detailed behavioural observations of scent marking, chemical analyses of scent composition and discrimination experiments in the field, and found little evidence for higher rates of scent marking in overlapping areas, a lack of group specificity of scents and a failure of individuals to discriminate between the scents of different groups. Although scent may fulfill some role in territorial demarcation and defence, these results suggest that scent marks and scent-marking patterns are also involved in communicating within social groups. © 2009 The Zoological Society of London.
Authors & Co-Authors
Jordan, Neil R.
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Mwanguhya, Francis
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Uganda, Kampala
Qenp
Kyabulima, Solomon
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Uganda, Kampala
Qenp
Rüedi, Peter
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Cant, Michael A.
United Kingdom, Exeter
University of Exeter
Statistics
Citations: 81
Authors: 5
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00646.x
ISSN:
09528369
e-ISSN:
14697998
Research Areas
Sexual And Reproductive Health