This is Ilya, one of the cats that participated in the study.
Credit: Vera Voznessenskaya
Mice that are exposed to the powerful smell
of cat urine early in life do not escape from cats later in life.
Researchers at the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution,
Russia, have discovered that mice that smell cat urine early in life, do
not avoid the same odour, and therefore do not escape from their feline
predators, later in life.
"Because the young mice (less than 2 weeks-old) are being fed milk
while being exposed to the odour, they experience positive
reinforcement," says Dr Vera Voznessenskaya, one of the lead researchers
behind this study. "So they don't escape the cats when exposed to cat
odour later on."
The researchers have identified the molecule in the urine responsible for these effects as L-Felinine.
"We already knew that odour affects reproduction in mice: in fact,
this molecule (L-Felinine) is capable of blocking pregnancy in females
and reducing the size of the litter," explains Dr Voznessenskaya.
Interestingly, while the mice don't escape from the odour later in
life, they still experience hormonal changes throughout their life.
"Early exposure to cat odour changes behavioral reactions to, but not
physiological (hormonal) responses in the mice, which remain elevated.
In fact, mice that had experienced the odour showed stress response
(elevated corticosterone) to cat odours in the same way as controls."
This research was presented at the Society for Experimental Biology 2015 conference.
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from
materials provided by
Society for Experimental Biology.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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