A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology

This paper provides a comparative review of the known patterns of olfactory behavioural ecology among the nocturnal strepsirhine primates and the cathemeral lemurid genus Eulemur. Endemic to Madagascar, all Eulemur species exhibit both diurnality and nocturnality (i.e., cathemerality), and are grega...

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Main Author: Ian C. Colquhoun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2011-01-01
Series:International Journal of Zoology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/362976
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author Ian C. Colquhoun
author_facet Ian C. Colquhoun
author_sort Ian C. Colquhoun
collection DOAJ
description This paper provides a comparative review of the known patterns of olfactory behavioural ecology among the nocturnal strepsirhine primates and the cathemeral lemurid genus Eulemur. Endemic to Madagascar, all Eulemur species exhibit both diurnality and nocturnality (i.e., cathemerality), and are gregarious, making them an interesting group of taxa to compare with the nocturnal strepsirhines. This paper represents the first comparative review of patterns of olfactory communication among the nocturnal strepsirhines and the cathemeral Eulemur species. Inductive assessment of these comparative data indicates that olfactory communication serves multiple functions in both groups, including individual recognition, sex recognition, indication of social dominance, and coordination of mating behaviour. However, the urine-washing behaviour characteristic of many nocturnal strepsirhines has no clear homologue among Eulemur species (although the latter may use urine droplets in scent marking). Despite sparse and scattered comparative data, it appears that Eulemur species exhibit different olfactory communication patterns that are associated with differing social organizations in this genus.
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spelling doaj-art-4a244fc24b1a4ee287c905f6dcf142672025-08-20T03:20:12ZengWileyInternational Journal of Zoology1687-84771687-84852011-01-01201110.1155/2011/362976362976A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural EcologyIan C. Colquhoun0Department of Anthropology and The Centre for Environment and Sustainability, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, CanadaThis paper provides a comparative review of the known patterns of olfactory behavioural ecology among the nocturnal strepsirhine primates and the cathemeral lemurid genus Eulemur. Endemic to Madagascar, all Eulemur species exhibit both diurnality and nocturnality (i.e., cathemerality), and are gregarious, making them an interesting group of taxa to compare with the nocturnal strepsirhines. This paper represents the first comparative review of patterns of olfactory communication among the nocturnal strepsirhines and the cathemeral Eulemur species. Inductive assessment of these comparative data indicates that olfactory communication serves multiple functions in both groups, including individual recognition, sex recognition, indication of social dominance, and coordination of mating behaviour. However, the urine-washing behaviour characteristic of many nocturnal strepsirhines has no clear homologue among Eulemur species (although the latter may use urine droplets in scent marking). Despite sparse and scattered comparative data, it appears that Eulemur species exhibit different olfactory communication patterns that are associated with differing social organizations in this genus.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/362976
spellingShingle Ian C. Colquhoun
A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology
International Journal of Zoology
title A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology
title_full A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology
title_fullStr A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology
title_full_unstemmed A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology
title_short A Review and Interspecific Comparison of Nocturnal and Cathemeral Strepsirhine Primate Olfactory Behavioural Ecology
title_sort review and interspecific comparison of nocturnal and cathemeral strepsirhine primate olfactory behavioural ecology
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/362976
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