Male and female mound-building mice, Mus spicilegus, discriminate dietary and individual odours of conspecifics

Individual body odour is known to provide information to conspecifics about both the identity of the donor and its biological state (e.g. reproductive condition, age, diet). It is not clear whether information related to individuality and biological state is evaluated collectively or separately. To gain insight into this subject, we examined the effect of a change in diet on conspecific recognition of individual chemical signatures in mound-building mice, Mus spicilegus. The diet change consisted of the addition of an aromatic concentrate to the drinking water. We used two different procedures based on spontaneous responses of mice to the presentation of odorous stimuli: the habituation–dishabituation procedure and the habituation–generalization procedure. Mice of both sexes were able to perceive the two types of information contained in the modified chemical signature of the donor, that is, they were able both to perceive the change in diet and to identify the chemical signature of the donor.