March 26, 2002

1 min read

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Squirrel's Sniffing Distinguishes Kin from Strangers

By Kate Wong

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In less time than it takes to read and process the information on a hastily scrawled name tag, Belding's ground squirrels can sort out sister from second cousin from total stranger with just a twitch of the nose. In fact, studies of several animal species--including humans--have suggested that kin recognition by smell is not uncommon. Belding's ground squirrels, however, seem especially adept in that regard and use the information obtained to make life or death decisions.

"It's as if these squirrels are reading DNA fingerprints and drawing the family tree with their noses," comments Cornell University psychologist Jill M. Mateo, who has studied the social creatures in the California mountains for five years. A report describing her findings will appear in the April 7 issue of Proceedings: Biological Sciences, a journal of the Royal Society. Mateo predicted that whereas the squirrels should quickly recognize the smell of close kin, they would spend more time sniffing unfamiliar odor compounds from distantly related or unrelated squirrels. Experimental results bore that out.

"The sensitivity and discrimination of their olfactory apparatus is astounding," Mateo remarks. "They're like furry gas chromatography machines." Scent discrimination helps the squirrels decide who to cooperate with in defending territories, or who to protect from predators, Mateo proposes. It may also help them to avoid inbreeding.

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor for features at Scientific American, where she has focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for nearly 30 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, as well as to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and a “Big Day” race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Wong is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Bluesky @katewong.bsky.social

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