An experimental investigation of chemical communication in the polar bear
Editor: Jane Waterman
Abstract
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus), with its wide‐ranging movements, solitary existence and seasonal reproduction, is expected to favor chemosignaling over other communication modalities. However, the topography of its Arctic sea ice habitat is generally lacking in stationary vertical substrates routinely used for targeted scent marking in other bears. These environmental constraints may have shaped a marking strategy, unique to polar bears, for widely dispersed continuous dissemination of scent via foot pads. To investigate the role of chemical communication, pedal scents were collected from free‐ranging polar bears of different sex and reproductive classes captured on spring sea ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, and presented in a controlled fashion to 26 bears in zoos. Results from behavioral bioassays indicated that bears, especially females, were more likely to approach conspecific scent during the spring than the fall. Male flehmen behavior, indicative of chemosignal delivery to the vomeronasal organ, differentiated scent donor by sex and reproductive condition. Histologic examination of pedal skin collected from two females indicated prominent and profuse apocrine glands in association with large compound hair follicles, suggesting that they may produce scents that function as chemosignals. These results suggest that pedal scent, regardless of origin, conveys information to conspecifics that may facilitate social and reproductive behavior, and that chemical communication in this species has been adaptively shaped by environmental constraints of its habitat. However, continuously distributed scent signals necessary for breeding behavior may prove less effective if current and future environmental conditions cause disruption of scent trails due to increased fracturing of sea ice.
Number of times cited: 12
- Jumpei Tomiyasu, Daisuke Kondoh, Hideyuki Sakamoto, Naoya Matsumoto, Motoki Sasaki, Nobuo Kitamura, Shingo Haneda and Motozumi Matsui, Morphological and histological features of the vomeronasal organ in the brown bear, Journal of Anatomy, 231, 5, (749-757), (2017).
- Nathália S. Fernandes, Estefanía Stanley, Fernando G. Costa, Carlos A. Toscano-Gadea and Rodrigo H. Willemart, Chemical sex recognition in the harvestman Discocyrtus prospicuus (Arachnida: Opiliones), acta ethologica, 20, 3, (215), (2017).
- M.H. Ferkin, J. delBarco-Trillo and A. Petrulis, Communication by Chemical Signals: Physiological Mechanisms, Ontogeny and Learning, Function, Evolution, and Cognition, Hormones, Brain and Behavior, 10.1016/B978-0-12-803592-4.00010-9, (285-327), (2017).
- Todd C. Atwood, Implications of Rapid Environmental Change for Polar Bear Behavior and Sociality, Marine Mammal Welfare, 10.1007/978-3-319-46994-2_24, (445-462), (2017).
- Ron R. Togunov, Andrew E. Derocher and Nicholas J. Lunn, Windscapes and olfactory foraging in a large carnivore, Scientific Reports, 7, (46332), (2017).
- Katrina K. Knott, Gabriela F. Mastromonaco, Megan A. Owen and Andrew J. Kouba, Urinary profiles of progestin and androgen metabolites in female polar bears during parturient and non-parturient cycles, Conservation Physiology, 5, 1, (2017).
- Geoffrey D. Gilfillan, Jessica D.T. Vitale, J. Weldon McNutt and Karen McComb, Spontaneous discrimination of urine odours in wild African lions, Panthera leo, Animal Behaviour, 126, (177), (2017).
- Randi Meyerson, Donald E. Moore, Sarah T. Long and Judy Che-Castaldo, Welfare of Captive Polar Bears and Their Value to In Situ Conservation Efforts, Marine Mammal Welfare, 10.1007/978-3-319-46994-2_27, (489-501), (2017).
- Agnieszka Sergiel, Javier Naves, Piotr Kujawski, Robert Maślak, Ewa Serwa, Damián Ramos, Alberto Fernández-Gil, Eloy Revilla, Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica, Filip Zięba, Johanna Painer and Nuria Selva, Histological, chemical and behavioural evidence of pedal communication in brown bears, Scientific Reports, 7, 1, (2017).
- Alexander J. Waroff, Leticia Fanucchi, Charles T. Robbins and O. Lynne Nelson, Tool use, problem-solving, and the display of stereotypic behaviors in the brown bear (Ursus arctos), Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 10.1016/j.jveb.2016.11.003, 17, (62-68), (2017).
- Ian Stirling, Cheryl Spencer and Dennis Andriashek, Behavior and activity budgets of wild breeding polar bears (Ursus maritimus), Marine Mammal Science, 32, 1, (13), (2016).
- Benjamin J. Pitcher, Isabelle Charrier and Robert G. Harcourt, Chemical fingerprints reveal clues to identity, heterozygosity, and relatedness, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, 36, (11146), (2015).




