Giant pandas use odor cues to discriminate kin from nonkin

Current Zoology
Oranit GiladXiaoping Zhou

Abstract

Sociality is an important factor in both the mechanism and function of kin recognition, yet it is little explored in solitary species. While there may be future opportunities for nepotistic functions of kin discrimination among solitary species, the ability to discriminate kin from nonkin may still have important roles in social regulation. The solitary giant pandaAiluropoda melanoleucaoffers a good model system to explore kin discrimination in a solitary mammal. As kin discrimination in many other mammals is olfactorily mediated, we investigated whether giant pandas are able to discriminate odor cues from daughters even after months and years of separation. Our results indicate that giant pandas are capable of discriminating between kin and nonkin using odor cues available in urine and body odor. Daughters preferentially investigated the odors of unrelated adult female pandas over the odors of their mothers, and mothers spent more time investigating the odors of unrelated age-matched female pandas over those from their daughters. Because these studies were conducted months or years after the mother-daughter period of dependency ended, it is still unclear what mechanism is used for recognition. Long-term olfactory memories and ...Continue Reading

References

Jul 1, 1964·Journal of Theoretical Biology·W D Hamilton
Apr 7, 1999·Animal Behaviour·R R SwaisgoodX Zhou
Sep 29, 2001·Trends in Neurosciences·M E Hauber, P W Sherman
Apr 6, 2002·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Jill M Mateo
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Oct 30, 2009·Biology Letters·Ronald R SwaisgoodZejun Zhang

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Citations

Aug 10, 2017·Molecular Ecology·Yibo HuFuwen Wei
Jul 21, 2020·Molecular Ecology·Delphine De MoorOliver Schülke
Sep 27, 2018·Experimental & Applied Acarology·Fumiaki Saitoh, Yasuyuki Choh

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