It is essential for prey species to be able to detect predators to avoid them. The sense of smell is used by a number of prey species for this purpose. The aim of the present study was to assess if one of the odourants that make up a predator odour is sufficient to induce a behavioural response in mice (Mus musculus). Two predator odourants were used, 2,2-dimethylthietane and methyl-2-phenylethyl sulfide, which are both found in the secretions of natural predators of mice. An odourant found in fruits, n-pentyl acetate, was also used. All three odourants were presented at a concentration that was a factor of 100 above the olfactory detection threshold of mice. Ten adult predator-naïve CD-1 mice were individually put in a two-compartment chamber one of which contained an odourant while the other contained a near-odourless solvent (diethyl phthalate). The results indicated that methyl-2-phenylethyl sulfide was actively avoided by the mice. Towards 2,2-dimethylthietane and n-pentyl acetate, in contrast, the mice behaved indifferent. Further, the results suggest a significant correlation between the number of switches between the two compartments of the test chamber and the test sessions when the animals were presented with n-pentyl acetate, but not when they were presented with the predator odourants. The results support the notion of an innate fear response towards the predator odourant methyl-2-phenylethyl sulfide in mice, but further studies with more animals and different concentrations of the odourants are necessary.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-108103 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Sjöström, Desirée |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för fysik, kemi och biologi, Linköpings universitet, Tekniska högskolan |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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