Rich TJ, Hurst JL
Behaviour & Ecology Research Group, School of Biology, University of Nottingham
Anim Behav. 1998 Sep;56(3):727-735. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1998.0803.
The quality of an individual's odour can allow potential mates to discriminate against individuals of low social class, poor health status or unsuitable genotype. Competitive scent marking provides a further mechanism which could allow mates to discriminate between individuals of apparently high quality. The presence or absence of fresh countermarks from competitors within an owner's territory or area marked by a dominant animal provides a reliable indicator of the owner's ability to defend its territory or dominate competitors. This could be used by potential mates to discriminate between individuals advertising their apparently high competitive ability through their scent-marking behaviour and odour quality. We tested this by manipulating scent marks in the neighbouring territories of wild-caught male house mice, Mus domesticus. As predicted, oestrous females used scent marks to select males apparently able to defend exclusive territories over those unable to exclude intruders. Females were more strongly attracted to the odour of owners of exclusively marked territories and showed more sexually related behaviour when interacting with these males. Furthermore, while females preferred a territory containing a better protected nest site regardless of the owner's apparent competitive ability, they still used the presence or absence of intruder countermarks when selecting a potential mate. This suggests that females use scent marks as a reliable signal of the best-quality mate among neighbouring males independently of their nest location. Since assessment depends on both the territory holder's own marks and those of competitor males, countermarking is likely to be an important mechanism of competition for mates between neighbours. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
个体气味的质量能使潜在配偶区分出社会地位低、健康状况差或基因型不合适的个体。竞争性气味标记提供了另一种机制，使配偶能够区分表面上高质量的个体。在领地所有者或优势动物标记区域内是否存在来自竞争者的新鲜反标记，是所有者保卫领地或支配竞争者能力的可靠指标。潜在配偶可以利用这一点，通过气味标记行为和气味质量来区分那些表现出较高竞争能力的个体。我们通过操纵野生雄性家鼠（小家鼠）相邻领地的气味标记来对此进行测试。正如预测的那样，处于发情期的雌性利用气味标记来选择那些显然能够保卫专属领地的雄性，而不是那些无法排除入侵者的雄性。雌性对专属标记领地所有者的气味更感兴趣，并且在与这些雄性互动时表现出更多与性相关的行为。此外，尽管雌性更喜欢有更好保护的巢穴的领地，而不考虑领地所有者的明显竞争能力，但在选择潜在配偶时，她们仍然会利用是否存在入侵者反标记这一因素。这表明雌性将气味标记作为相邻雄性中最佳配偶质量的可靠信号，而与巢穴位置无关。由于评估既取决于领地占有者自身的标记，也取决于竞争雄性的标记，反标记很可能是邻居之间争夺配偶竞争的重要机制。版权所有1998年动物行为研究协会
