Discrimination among colony mates' anogenital odors by guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus).

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Abstract
Whether odor is used by guinea pigs in detection of physiological estrus in female counterparts was studied. Three experiments were presented which used an aversively motivated learning task to examine the ability of adult guinea pigs to discriminate among odors from non-specific anogenital swabbings of colony mates. The ability of male and female guinea pigs to discriminate among odors of colony mates controlled for age and sex was examined. Males and females were able to discriminate among individual animals on the basis of odor. Since individual animals could be discriminated, the 3rd experiment, examining detection of physiological estrus, tested the ability of males and females to discriminate preserved odor samples from the same female during conditions of estrus and nonestrus. Males and females were able to discriminate between the conditions. The involvement of odor in the social behavior of guinea pigs was discussed.