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The Use of Excretion- and Secretion-Based Scent Communication in European Badgers (Meles Meles)

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Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15 (CSiV 2021)

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Abstract

Redundancy in animal communication enhances the likelihood that information transmission occurs between the sender and receiver. In olfactory communication, redundancy can occur, for example, when the same message is encoded in both specialised glandular secretions and in metabolic by-products. Although these two modalities often encode similar messages, few studies have compared their deployment and associated behavioural responses within the same species. Here, we used chemical analyses (i.e. gas chromatography-mass spectrometry [GC-MS], bomb calorimetry, enzyme immunoassay [EIA]) and behavioural studies (i.e. scent-presentation experiments) to indirectly compare olfactory communication utilising subcaudal gland secretions (SGSs) with signals encoded in urine from a wild population of European badgers (Meles meles) in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, UK. While both SGS and urine encoded biologically relevant information relating to season and reproductive fitness (i.e., sex, age and reproductive condition), SGS encoded additional information regarding individual identity, body condition and social group membership. Furthermore, behavioural observations indicated that age-related variations in SGS chemical composition may affect the perception of SGS energetic content (although the biological relevance of this energetic content requires further research). Overall, our findings may indicate that both SGS and urine appear to be equally important but present varying levels of fitness information.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all members of the Wytham Badger Project who helped with fieldwork and gathering samples. We also thank Dr. Tristram Wyatt for his comments on an earlier draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Tanesha M. Allen

  2. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Oxford, UK

    Chris Newman & David W. Macdonald

  3. Department of Zoology, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Sciences, Kelowna, BC, Canada

    Christina D. Buesching

Authors
  1. Tanesha M. Allen
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  2. Chris Newman
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  3. David W. Macdonald
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  4. Christina D. Buesching
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tanesha M. Allen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Development of Olfactory Communicationand Cognition Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation CNRS, Université de BourgogneInrae-Institut Agro Dijon, Dijon, France

    Benoist Schaal

  2. Development of Olfactory Communicationand Cognition Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation CNRS, Université de BourgogneInrae-Institut Agro Dijon, Dijon, France

    Diane Rekow

  3. Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Inrae, CNRS, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France

    Matthieu Keller

  4. Development of Olfactory Communicationand Cognition Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation CNRS, Université de BourgogneInrae-Institut Agro Dijon, Dijon, France

    Fabrice Damon

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Allen, T.M., Newman, C., Macdonald, D.W., Buesching, C.D. (2023). The Use of Excretion- and Secretion-Based Scent Communication in European Badgers (Meles Meles). In: Schaal, B., Rekow, D., Keller, M., Damon, F. (eds) Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15. CSiV 2021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35159-4_10

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