Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Biology
First Advisor
Richard Forbes
Term of Graduation
Fall 1996
Date of Publication
12-6-1996
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Biology
Department
Biology
Language
English
Subjects
Chemoreceptors, Odors, Animal communication, Mice -- Behavior
DOI
10.15760/etd.7102
Physical Description
1 online resource (vi, 38 pages)
Abstract
Identifying the sensory systems animals employ to communicate chemically and the function of the chemical signals facilitates further understanding of chemical communication. Increased knowledge of how animals use the olfactory and vomeronasal systems in order to interpret the meaning of body odors will aid in developing a more detailed organization of chemosensory pathways. The message that each body odor contains can change from species to species.
The purpose of this thesis was to study three previously untested body odors in house mice (M. musculus) for their role in gender recognition of conspecifics. These odors are the anogenital (feces, urine, and preputial gland secretions), the Harderian gland (Harderian gland sebaceous secretion; gland located at inner comer of eye), and mouth/nose (saliva, mucus, and food). The amount of time in seconds and the number of sniffs were measured in an habituation paradigm which involved four trials per odor.
The means of the amount of time spent sniffing and the number of sniffs per odor showed that the mice sniffed the novel odor the most, the non-novel an intermediate amount, and the control the least amount. The mice recognized the novel as foreign and the non-novel as familiar and the mice could not determine the gender of the odor-donor from any of the three odors.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/30289
Recommended Citation
Andrews, Dawn Michele, "Chemical Communication in House Mice (Mus musculus): Can They Recognize Gender from the Anogenital, Harderian Gland or Mouth/Nose Odor?" (1996). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 5230.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.7102
Comments
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