The genetic and biological substrates facilitating chemosensory detection, identification, and evaluation of potential mates in the Southern giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei)

The Southern giant pouched rat, Cricetomys ansorgei, provides an exquisite opportunity to study the dynamics of chemical communication in a natural environment. This species possesses extremely powerful chemosensory abilities, even by comparison to other rodents. The acute chemical senses of the pouched rat are powerful enough to detect explosives and cryptic disease, and this species represents a remarkable tool for human society. Furthermore, pouched rats have a reproductive physiology like no other species, in which adult-sized females (over a year old) lack a vaginal opening. Pouched rats have a dynamic system of chemical communication in which interpretation of pheromones differs depending on the sex, phenotype and reproductive status of the emitter and the receiver. This project utilizes an integrative approach combing behavioral, physiological and molecular evidence to describe the genetic and biological substrates facilitating detection, identification, and evaluation of potential mates.