One of the most important senses for carnivores is the sense of smell. This is because carnivores use a variety of chemicals to communicate between individuals. The chemicals in bodily fluids like blood and urine has been found to elicit different behavioral responses in both carnivore and prey species. One example is that blood from predators have been shown to elicit fear and flight behaviors in prey species and also that blood from conspecifics serve as a warning signal. Also the chemicals in urine has been shown to convey information about the sexual identity, age and reproductive status of the donor to conspecifics.

For both Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) and bush dogs (Speothos venaticus) the sense of smell is important for hunting and social communitcation. For example male tigers are able to smell urine marks from females and determine if they are sexually receptive or not. Males have also shown to scent mark less when there are no sexually receptive females around. In bush dogs scent marking has been shown to be an important factor in pair-formation and maintainance, especially in male-female bonds.