Volatiles from feces of wild male house mice : Chemistry and effects on behavior and heart Rate.

Volatile compounds from the fecal pellets deposited by a house mouse could be used for the purpose of communication with conspecifics. Analysis of volatiles from fresh and aged pellets by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that many compounds were present and that ketones, alcohols, and carboxylic acids were the most common. Introducing volatiles from the fecal pellets of strange males into the territory of a singly housed male altered the site at which the resident mouse deposited most of its feces, and introducing the fecal pellets of a male mouse into the environment where it encountered a conspecific improved its success in an encounter with a stranger.