Analysis of volatile chemical substances in urine of the kinship and non-kinship Tupaia belangeri (Mammalia: Scandentia: Tupaiidae)

Abstract

Chemical communication plays an important role in reproductive and social behaviour of small mammals. The chemical constituents of urine were the main signal resources that can encode sex and social status. The purpose of the present study was to test volatile chemical substances in urine of the kinship and non-kinship Tupaia belangeri, volatile chemicals in urine were performed by the gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS), which is speculated that volatile chemicals in urine may had key role in its kin recognition of T. belangeri. The results showed that the components of volatile chemicals in urine were similar between the kinship and non-kinship T. belangeri, which the main components were Alcohols, Alkanes, Esters and Ketones, but the types of each materials were discrepant. “Formic acid, octyl ester” were absence or existence regularly, and “a-Farnesene” and “2,4-Dithiapentane” were found in kinship and non-kinship T. belangeri, which may be signaling substances in the urine. All of the results suggested that volatile chemical substances in urine were different in kinship and non-kinship T. belangeri, indicating that chemical communication based on signals in urine plays an important role in its kin recognition of T. belangeri.