Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

Many studies have shown that animals exhibit behavioral responses to different odors. Mammalian species emit odors mainly through secretion of specialized scent glands, breath, sweat, urine, feces and blood (Shirasu and Touhara 2011).

Mammalian predators may use the odor of blood to home in on wounded prey and thus demonstrate foraging behavior (Stoddart 1980; Rogers et al.1991). The odor of blood from wounded prey may also serve conspecifics to show increased vigilance or flight or active support (Stevens and Saplikoski 1973; Hornbuckle and Beal 1974; Mackay-Sim and Laing 1981; Sandnabba 1997; Terlouw et al. 1998). It may also be an important indicator in recognizing reproductive (Wyatt 2003) and health status in females (Arakawa et al. 2011). Dogs can differentiate between the odor of human blood of carcinoma patients and the odor of normal blood by sniffing (Horvath et al. 2010), which indicates that there are certain characteristic odorants in both types of blood.

On the other hand, with the exception of human blood only little research has been done on volatile compounds that constitute the odor of blood in mammals, and even less is known about the blood odor components that elicit behavioral responses in predator and/or prey species. Similarly, very little is known about between-species differences in the composition of blood odor as well as within-species variation in its composition. In conclusion, only few mammalian blood-specific volatile compounds have been reported so far.

Such knowledge, however, would be useful for both theoretical and practical purposes: it would, for example, allow ethologists to better understand the chemosensory dimension of predator/prey relationships and of intra specific chemical communication. It would also allow for the development of more effective chemical repellents, for example along highways or around plantations