Lemurs are Double-Dealing Little Stinkers

Considering the important role of scent in nature, it’s no surprise that many species have evolved some downright sneaky tactics to disguise, diminish, or enhance their odor footprints. Male pandas will urinate onto a tree while performing a handstand so as to leave the highest (thus most dominant) mark. Dogs, to the horror of their owners, tend to mask their scent by enthusiastically rolling in some of the most foul-smelling substances imaginable. Humans shell out millions to eliminate the natural odors of our bodies in favor of odors we consider more attractive.

Lemurs, though, distant primate cousins of ours who split from the family tree before the monkeys and apes parted ways, may well have cornered the market on sophisticated scent-treachery. According to a new study conducted by Leonardo Dapporto at Florence University, each of these bi-scentual little guys produces two completely separate scents–one from each hand–and these scents are as distinct from one another as that of two separate lemurs.

It’s a discovery unprecedented in scent research, and the question is still open as to why dual-odors would evolve in a single individual. One answer is offered by Ron Swaisgood, a behavioral ecologist at the Zoological Society of San Diego, who suggests the opposing scents may enable lemurs to mislead neighboring groups and predators as to the size of their colony. An even more intriguing possibility is that having two scents might allow the lemur to communicate through scent with a sophistication previously undreamed of, weaving complex tapestries of odor as varied as the shades an artist might create from two colors of paint.