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Most animal species checking their competition are quite complicated and may involve many things but a new study suggests that lemurs can simply feel the weaknesses of their lemur companions. Lemurs can tell if other lemurs are not strong as they are just taking a sniff of the odor that they leave behind. The study was conducted by Duke University on ring-tailed lemurs. Males are more aggressive towards other lemurs if they feel something unusual among their counterparts. Christine Drea, professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, explains, "Our study shows that the physical injuries of peers attenuate the signature of an animal's odor, and that its counterparts can detect. "The study was published recently in the journal Scientific Reports.
Male and female lemurs have strong sweat glands on their bads and may emit a rather unpleasant odor, but these secretions help lemurs get an idea of the approach of another lemur. comrade. According to the research team, the smell is "very pungent and musky." The researchers collected these secretions using ring-tailed lemur swabs at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina. For about 9 years, between 2007 and 2016, the team collected secretions from 23 lemurs while they were being treated for injuries. Lemurs can be very competitive in their natural habitat – for food, for companions or just to tell others who are the boss, which usually leads to scuffles that involve a lot of scraping and biting and therefore cuts and Injuries
Male lemur fought a younger counterpart on a female that resulted in a hand and cheek injury. Another lemur named Herodotus was injured to the big toe because of a bad landing. What is the injury, it is that it changes the chemical composition of the secretions and hence the smell of lemurs. Numbers of compounds also decreased by almost 10% when lemurs are injured, proven the results of gas chromatography-mbad spectrometry tests. Since the mating season is extremely competitive and injuries are more common during this period and the smell has been judged to be muted. The team discovered that although humans could not detect changes but lemurs could say that the other lemur was not at its attenuated odor. Research team member Rachel Harris said, "These animals constantly monitor the physical condition of their competitors and respond quickly to any opportunity to climb the ladder of society"
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