Scent Communication
Former PhD student Dr Jessica Mitchell worked with Dr Hazel Nichols to investigate the information that banded mongooses communicate via scent, including mate quality (https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zox003), reproductive status (see https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0441), parasite burden (see https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12424) and kinship (https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171798). We are using a combination of scent presentation experiments (as in the photograph above) and chemical analysis of scents via GCMS in our work.
PhD student Nadine Schubert and co-supervisors Dr Jamie Winternitz and Dr Hazel Nichols continue work on the scent communication in the banded mongoose, exploring links between scent, MHC (immune) genes, fitness and the microbiome (https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab004).
Finally, alongside Prof Nigel Bennett (University of Pretoria) and Prof Barbara Caspers (University of Bielefeld), Hazel Nichols has been working on scent communication in a variety of African mole-rat species (above, she's pictured with a subadult Damaraland mole-rat). These subterranean animals range from solitary to eusocial and therefore different species are likely to use scents to convey different information.
PhD student Nadine Schubert and co-supervisors Dr Jamie Winternitz and Dr Hazel Nichols continue work on the scent communication in the banded mongoose, exploring links between scent, MHC (immune) genes, fitness and the microbiome (https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab004).
Finally, alongside Prof Nigel Bennett (University of Pretoria) and Prof Barbara Caspers (University of Bielefeld), Hazel Nichols has been working on scent communication in a variety of African mole-rat species (above, she's pictured with a subadult Damaraland mole-rat). These subterranean animals range from solitary to eusocial and therefore different species are likely to use scents to convey different information.