These Mice Spy on Their Predators—By Sniffing Their Tears
It's the first known example of prey picking up on a predator's pheromone and using it to avoid danger.
When you're prey, it pays to listen in on your predators.
A new study demonstrates that mice can "eavesdrop" on the pheromones used by rats to communicate. The study, led by Kazushige Touhara at the University of Tokyo, identifies a protein in male rats' tears that acts as a sex pheromone for rats and a warning signal for mice.
Male rats spread their tears over their body as they groom themselves, cloaking themselves in whatever chemical signals they contain. As the rodents go about their business, they leave an olfactory record of their passage. Touhara and his team were curious whether mice could pick up a signal left by rat tears. (Read why mouse tears are aphrodisiacs.)
The scientists used standard
