First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)

Abstract Olfactory communication is highly important for nocturnal mammals, especially for solitary foragers, but knowledge is still limited for nocturnal primates. Mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.) are nocturnal solitary foragers with a dispersed lifestyle and frequently use chemo-sensory signalling b...

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Autores principales:	Annika Kollikowski, Elke Zimmermann, Ute Radespiel
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2019
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/83bcd2f3b1d04e27a040889703723ea5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:83bcd2f3b1d04e27a040889703723ea52021-12-02T15:12:22ZFirst experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)10.1038/s41598-019-56893-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/83bcd2f3b1d04e27a040889703723ea52019-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56893-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Olfactory communication is highly important for nocturnal mammals, especially for solitary foragers, but knowledge is still limited for nocturnal primates. Mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.) are nocturnal solitary foragers with a dispersed lifestyle and frequently use chemo-sensory signalling behaviour for governing social interactions. Different mouse lemur species can co-occur in a given forest but it is unknown whether olfaction is involved in species recognition. We first screened 24 captive mouse lemurs (9 M. murinus, 15 M. lehilahytsara) for their olfactory learning potential in an experimental arena and then tested the species discrimination ability with urine odour in an operant conditioning paradigm in four individuals. The majority of the screened animals (75%) did not pass the screening criteria within a 2-week test period. However, all four final test animals, two M. murinus and two M. lehilahytsara, were successfully trained in a 5-step-conditioning process to reliably discriminate conspecific from heterospecific urine odour (requiring an overall median of 293 trials). Findings complement previous studies on the role of acoustic signalling and suggest that olfaction may be an important additional mechanism for species discrimination.Annika KollikowskiElke ZimmermannUte RadespielNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Annika Kollikowski Elke Zimmermann Ute Radespiel First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)
description	Abstract Olfactory communication is highly important for nocturnal mammals, especially for solitary foragers, but knowledge is still limited for nocturnal primates. Mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.) are nocturnal solitary foragers with a dispersed lifestyle and frequently use chemo-sensory signalling behaviour for governing social interactions. Different mouse lemur species can co-occur in a given forest but it is unknown whether olfaction is involved in species recognition. We first screened 24 captive mouse lemurs (9 M. murinus, 15 M. lehilahytsara) for their olfactory learning potential in an experimental arena and then tested the species discrimination ability with urine odour in an operant conditioning paradigm in four individuals. The majority of the screened animals (75%) did not pass the screening criteria within a 2-week test period. However, all four final test animals, two M. murinus and two M. lehilahytsara, were successfully trained in a 5-step-conditioning process to reliably discriminate conspecific from heterospecific urine odour (requiring an overall median of 293 trials). Findings complement previous studies on the role of acoustic signalling and suggest that olfaction may be an important additional mechanism for species discrimination.
format	article
author	Annika Kollikowski Elke Zimmermann Ute Radespiel
author_facet	Annika Kollikowski Elke Zimmermann Ute Radespiel
author_sort	Annika Kollikowski
title	First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)
title_short	First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)
title_full	First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)
title_fullStr	First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)
title_full_unstemmed	First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)
title_sort	first experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (microcebus lehilahytsara and m. murinus)
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/83bcd2f3b1d04e27a040889703723ea5
work_keys_str_mv	AT annikakollikowski firstexperimentalevidenceforolfactoryspeciesdiscriminationintwonocturnalprimatespeciesmicrocebuslehilahytsaraandmmurinus AT elkezimmermann firstexperimentalevidenceforolfactoryspeciesdiscriminationintwonocturnalprimatespeciesmicrocebuslehilahytsaraandmmurinus AT uteradespiel firstexperimentalevidenceforolfactoryspeciesdiscriminationintwonocturnalprimatespeciesmicrocebuslehilahytsaraandmmurinus
_version_	1718387641877004288

First experimental evidence for olfactory species discrimination in two nocturnal primate species (Microcebus lehilahytsara and M. murinus)

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