Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Bacteria Help Hyenas Communicate
Hyenas use scent marking as part of their communication system with other hyenas.
Kevin Theis and colleagues at Michigan State University, along with Arvind Venkataraman and Tom Schmidt at the University of Michigan, show that the bacterial communities in scent glands vary between hyenas.
Both the bacteria and their volatile fermentation products can be correlated with the species, the sex and the reproductive state of the host animal.