ArticleScientific reports2023
Brown bear skin-borne secretions display evidence of individuality and age-sex variation.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exaggerated signaling in a solitary mammal: evidence from brown bears (Journal of mammalogy · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Scent originates from excretions and secretions, and its chemical complexity in mammals translates into a diverse mode of signalling. Identifying how information is encoded can help to establish the mechanisms of olfactory communication and the use of odours as chemical signals. Building upon existing behavioural and histological literature, we examined the chemical profile of secretions used for scent marking by a solitary, non-territorial carnivore, the brown bear (Ursus arctos). We investigated the incidence, abundance, and uniqueness of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from cutaneous glandular secretions of 12 wild brown bears collected during late and post-breeding season, and assessed whether age-sex class, body site, and individual identity explained profile variation. VOC profiles varied in the average number of compounds, compound incidence, and compound abundance by age-sex class and individual identity (when individuals were grouped by sex), but not by body site. Mature males differed from other age-sex classes, secreting fewer compounds on average with the least variance between individuals. Compound uniqueness varied by body site and age for both males and females and across individuals. Our results indicate that brown bear skin-borne secretions may facilitate age-sex class and individual recognition, which can contribute towards further understanding of mating systems and social behaviour.
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