Giant pandas discriminate individual differences in conspecific scent

The functions;and mechanisms of chemical communication are well established for many species of small mammal amenable to investigation, but systematic research is virtually absent for large, rare species. The present study ma rks the first systematic investigation of chemical communication in the end angered giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca. Using a habituation-discrimina tion paradigm, we sought to determine whether giant pandas can discriminate between scents from different individuals on the basis of chemical cues af forded by female urine and male anogenital gland secretions. Pandas habitua ted to successive presentations of scent stimuli from a single individual, as evidenced by diminished responsiveness across five habituation trials. I n the discrimination test for male anogenital gland secretions, subjects of both sexes investigated a new individual's scent significantly more than a familiar scent to which they were previously habituated. Neither sex signi ficantly discriminated novel from habituated female urine, although a stron g tendency to differentiate the stimuli was evident. We also found that the sex of the subject affected patterns of response. Females,showed a signifi cant preference for male anogenital gland secretions, whereas males investi gated both types of scent stimuli equally. In general, male subjects were m ore responsive than females to conspecific scent, especially female urine. This study provides clear evidence that giant pandas distinguish individual ;odours emanating from male anogenital secretions, and implies that these o dours contain individually distinctive chemical signatures. These results h ave implications that can be applied to the conservation and management of this species. (C) 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.