A new sexual signal in rutting male red deer: Age related chemical scent constituents in the belly black spot

Martı́n, José; Carranza, Juan; López, Pílar; Alarcos, Susana; Pérez‐González, Javier

doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2014.07.005

Cited by 23 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In fact, the maximal surface occupied by this dark ventral patch increases with age, until deer reach the age of six years, when the dark patch remains stable in size, following the same pattern than other morphological traits related to intrasexual competition between males, such as antler size or body weight (Carranza et al ., unpublished data). The dark ventral patch hair of the Iberian red deer males is impregnated with a wide diversity of chemical compounds that may have originated from several sources, such as the urine or the sebaceous glands of the skin [25]. In particular, heterocyclic aromatic organic compounds, steroids, carboxylic acids and alcohols are found, among others, in the belly black spot, but not in other hair areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The intensity of male-male competition may affect chemical scent constituents in the dark ventral patch of male Iberian red deer

2019

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During the mating season, Iberian red deer males ( Cervus elaphus hispanicus ) present a large visible dark ventral area in their abdomen. This characteristic dark-haired area is formed by the impregnation of the hair with sprayed urine and gland secretions and contains volatile compounds that can be used in intraspecific communication. Here, we used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to describe the lipophilic chemicals from the dark ventral patch of males from different populations with different levels of intrasexual competition. Amongst all the compounds found, m -cresol, benzoic acid, cholesterol and 4-hydroxy-benzenopropanoic acid were the most abundant. The proportions of these compounds varied with age as well as with the level of intra-sexual competition, independently of age. In particular, red deer males experiencing higher intra-sexual competition had lower proportions of aromatic compounds (especially m -cresol) but higher proportions of carboxylic acids on their dark bellies. Males in a high male-male competition situation, invest in volatile compounds that can reveal their age, dominance status and condition, and that, in addition, enhance this signal. On the contrary, males from low intra-sexual competition populations have chemical profiles more characteristic of young individuals. This research shows a first glance of how secretion of volatile compounds of male deer can be modulated due to the intensity of male-male competition in the population.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The intensity of male-male competition may affect chemical scent constituents in the dark ventral patch of male Iberian red deer

2019

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“…MacDonald et al, 2008;Kean et al, 2011;Harris et al, 2014), age (e.g. Buesching et al, 2002;Kean et al, 2011;Martín et al, 2014) or sexual maturity (adult vs. subadult; e.g. Linklater et al, 2013;Vaglio et al, 2016;Spence-Aizenberg et al, 2018)].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anal scent gland secretions inform on sexual maturity, sex and social status in the Alpine marmot, Marmota marmota (Rodentia: Sciuridae): a role in intrasexual competition in cooperative breeders?

Zidat

Dufour

Meiffren

et al. 2018

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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In cooperative breeders, reproductive skew is extreme and leads to intense intrasexual competition for access to reproduction in both sexes. Given that securing the dominant position is costly, dominant animals should direct their aggressiveness towards same-sex subordinates that are potential competitors. Chemical communication has been reported to be involved in intrasexual competition in several mammalian species, and odour may be used as a cue to identify potential competitors. We predicted that odour should inform on sexual maturity, sex and social status in cooperative breeders. We tested these predictions in the Alpine marmot, a cooperatively breeding species, in which anal gland secretions are involved in aggressive behaviour. We sampled anal gland scents from 154 individuals of differing sexual maturity status, sex and social status. We found that anal gland secretions may inform on sexual maturity. When focusing on adult individuals, we found that anal gland scent differed according to sex and social status. Our results support the hypothesis that anal gland scent could be involved in intrasexual competition in Alpine marmots by allowing dominant individuals to target their aggressiveness towards same-sex competitors (i.e. sexually mature subordinates), resulting in the reproductive suppression of subordinates.

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“…The DOPEG-mediated formation of the dark ventral patch may also contribute to understand its evolution. Data on volatile compounds also present in the ventral patch hair suggest that this trait acts as a sexual signal in red deer [13]. Our own preliminary analyses actually show that males with larger patches achieve higher mating success (unpublished data).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Three out of 33 male red deer included in this study were sampled within the mating season (September), when, according with a sexual signaling role [13], the dark ventral patch is expected to exhibit its maximum expression level (i.e., largest size). We found that the urine concentration of DOPEG in the three males sampled in the mating season were significantly higher (mean ± SE: 20.32 ± 12.38 g/l) than those in the rest of animals sampled outside the mating season (7.75 ± 0.95 g/l; t = 2.80, df = 31, p = 0.009).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we investigated a possible catecholamine-based mechanism of pigmentation in wild Iberian male red deer Cervus elaphus hispanicus. During the mating season in which male red deer compete to form harems and maximize the number of copulations, a large and conspicuous dark ventral patch of hair appears associated to a urine spraying behavior in which urine is spread through the ventral body area [13]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unprecedented high catecholamine production causing hair pigmentation after urinary excretion in red deer

Galván

Solano

Zougagh

et al. 2018

Cell. Mol. Life Sci.

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Hormones have not been found in concentrations of orders of magnitude higher than ng/ml. Here we report urine concentrations of a catecholamine (norepinephrine) ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 g/l, and concentrations of its metabolite DL-3,4-dihydroxyphenyl glycol (DOPEG) ranging from 1.0 to 44.5 g/l, in wild male red deer Cervus elaphus hispanicus after LC-MS analyses. The dark ventral patch of male red deer, a recently described sexually selected signal, contains high amounts of DOPEG (0.9-266.9 mg/l) stuck in the hairs, while DOPEG is not present in non-darkened hair. The formation of this dark patch is explained by the chemical structure of DOPEG, which is a catecholamine-derived odiphenol susceptible to be oxidized by air and form allomelanins, nitrogen-free pigments similar to cutaneous melanins; by its high concentration in urine; and by the urine spraying behavior of red deer by which urine is spread through the ventral body area. Accordingly, the size of the dark ventral patch was positively correlated with the concentration of DOPEG in urine, which was in turn correlated with DOPEG absorbed in ventral hair. These findings represent catecholamine concentrations about one million higher than those previously reported for any hormone in an organism. This may have favored the evolution of the dark ventral patch of red deer by transferring information on fighting capacity to 3 rivals and mates. Physiological limits for hormone production in animals are thus considerably higher than previously thought. These results also unveil a novel mechanism of pigmentation based on the self-application of urine over the fur.

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A new sexual signal in rutting male red deer: Age related chemical scent constituents in the belly black spot

Cited by 23 publications

References 35 publications

The intensity of male-male competition may affect chemical scent constituents in the dark ventral patch of male Iberian red deer

The intensity of male-male competition may affect chemical scent constituents in the dark ventral patch of male Iberian red deer

Anal scent gland secretions inform on sexual maturity, sex and social status in the Alpine marmot, Marmota marmota (Rodentia: Sciuridae): a role in intrasexual competition in cooperative breeders?

Unprecedented high catecholamine production causing hair pigmentation after urinary excretion in red deer

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