Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
J Chem Ecol. 1996 Apr;22(4):839-68. doi: 10.1007/BF02033590.
We measured the heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption ([Formula: see text]) of wapiti (Cervus elaphus canadensis) before, during, and after presentation of biologically irrelevant odors (pentane, thiophene, and a perfume), artificial predator odors (an ether extract of cougar feces, and PDT, a compound found in mustelid anal gland secretion), stale predator odors (dog feces and urine and fox urine, kept at ambient temperature for a few weeks), and fresh predator odors (wolf, coyote, and cougar feces and the odor of a dead coyote, kept frozen between collection and test). Overall, responses to odors were small compared to other stressful stimuli. Individual variability was high among scents and among wapiti, but two of the fresh predator odors (cougar and wolf feces) produced larger HR and[Formula: see text] responses than the other scents and were more often successful at producing responses. As a group, fresh predator odors produced larger tachycardias and elicited a larger number of significant HR responses than biologically irrelevant novel odors. although the two classes of odors did not differ in their effect on[Formula: see text]. Although several other studies have shown that ungulates have reduced feeding levels when their food is scented with predator odors, it is not clear if this is due to reduced palatability or antipredator behavior. This study is the first demonstration that a wild ungulate species reacted more strongly to predator odors than to other odors in a nonfeeding situation.
我们测量了马鹿（Cervus elaphus canadensis）在呈现生物无关气味（戊烷、噻吩和一种香水）、人工捕食者气味（美洲狮粪便的乙醚提取物和 PDT，一种在鼬科肛门分泌物中发现的化合物）、陈旧的捕食者气味（狗的粪便和尿液以及狐狸尿液，在室温下保存数周）和新鲜的捕食者气味（狼、郊狼和美洲狮的粪便以及死郊狼的气味，在收集和测试之间保持冷冻）前后的心率（HR）和耗氧量（[Formula: see text]）。总的来说，与其他压力刺激相比，对气味的反应较小。个体对气味的变化差异很大，但两种新鲜的捕食者气味（美洲狮和狼的粪便）比其他气味产生更大的 HR 和[Formula: see text]反应，而且更经常成功地产生反应。作为一个整体，新鲜的捕食者气味产生的心动过速更大，并引起更多的显著 HR 反应，而不是生物无关的新气味。尽管这两类气味在对[Formula: see text]的影响上没有差异。尽管其他几项研究表明，当它们的食物被捕食者的气味熏过之后，食草动物的进食水平会降低，但目前尚不清楚这是由于食物的适口性降低还是由于其反捕食行为。这项研究首次证明，一种野生的有蹄类动物在非进食情况下对捕食者的气味比其他气味的反应更强烈。
