London, Sept 25 (ANI): Scientists have identified several special receptors in the noses of animals that react to specific scents given off by others.
It's these receptors that signal to the brain whether the animal needs to flee, make itself large and scary, or perhaps even woo a mate.
"Animals in the wild need to be able to recognize other animals, whether they are predators, potential mates or rivals," study researcher Catherine Dulac of Harvard University told LiveScience.
"Many animals rely on the sense of smell; they can distinguish one type of encounter from another one based on chemicals," she added.
Experimenting on mice, Dulac and her fellow researchers discovered that more of the animal's receptors seem to be dedicated to sniffing out predators than to detecting potential mates.
When a cat or mouse senses the chemical compounds secreted by other animals, it activates a special sensor in the nose called the vomeronasal organ.
This organ, which is found in many animals and consists of a set of receptors, sends a signal to the brain, which interprets the signal and takes action.
The study was recently published in the journal Nature. (ANI)
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