Hyenas Communicate with Microbes

Theo DeFuria

Media File:
http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/do-microbes-help-hyenas-communicate/
By: Kay E. Holekamp
Published: July 7, 2011

Summary:  Adult hyenas produce a waxy yellow paste from their scent glands.  These scent glands are located near their anus.  Hyenas rub their glands along grass.  By doing this they are spreading their paste on the grass.  When studied in high amounts the paste has a strong odor.  However, the paste is virtually odorless.  Hyenas have noses that are sensitive enough to smell even a minute scent of the paste on a stalk of grass.  They spread their scent to claim their territory and mark the edges of their den.  Hyenas have been known to be able to tell the scent of their clan-mates apart from the scent of strangers.  Somehow the hyenas produce unique odors in their scent glands.  Their clusters of glands are warm, moist, and nutrient rich, which are the perfect conditions for bacterial growth.  Further studies reveal that bacteria in the scent glands of hyenas vary among clans.  These microbes are the source of the unique scents.  This means that hyenas can mark their territory, and track fellow hyenas of their same social group due to microbes.  The microbes are in a mutualistic relationship with the hyenas.

Relevance:  In our past unit we studied microbes, and the symbiotic relationships they can form with multicellular organisms.  The article is an example of a mutualistic relationship between microbes and hyenas.  The hyenas benefit by getting a unique odor which they can use to communicate with other hyenas.  The bacteria get a warm, moist environment to live in.  We are about to move into a unit on animals, and we may learn about species like hyenas and forms of communication.