Behavioral Responses of Siberian Chipmunks toward Conspecifics Applied Snake Scent

Siberian chipmunks are known to gnaw snake-related objects such as skin, urine, feces and anal sac excretion, and apply the gnawed bits to their body fur repeatedly (SSA behavior). After SSA, chipmunks often rub their bodies on nearby wood stumps and branches. The SSA behavior is surmised to have function of information-spreading on snakes to neighboring chipmunks. In the present study, responses of the other chipmunks towards SSA individuals were experimentally analyzed to examine the possibility of this hypothesis. In the experiments, subject chipmunks were presented with 2 kinds of objects; (1) SSA-performed chipmunks in boxes and non-performed chipmunks in boxes, (2) wood boards to which the scent of SSA-performed chipmunks adhered and wood boards to which the scent of non-performed chipmunks adhered. In both cases of (1) and (2), subject chipmunks nosed significantly longer the scent from SSA-performed chipmunks and that they performed SSA only in the contact with the former.