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If the item comes direct from a manufacturer, it may be delivered in non-retail packaging, such as a plain or unprinted box or plastic bag. In cases of co-elution, a good quality mass spectrum was found for each compound, from which up to three characteristic (and non-interfering) ions were selected. Urine scent marking behaviour has long been known in foxes, but there has not been a recent study of the chemical composition of fox urine. Fox urine in particular has a strong “skunky/musky” odour, the intensity of which varies with season and appears to be caused by two sulphur-containing compounds, Δ3-isopentenyl methyl sulfide and 2-phenylthyl methyl sulfide. We live in mid-terrace Victorian house, and our neighbours don't seem to be having any issues at all.
That this happens in many species even if they've not encountered that predator before, suggests there are some universal components of predator urine that clue-in potential prey. Additional abbreviation: N, normally found in human body or excreta (including xenobiotics from plants or commercial products).
The results of previous studies have shown that fox urine is aversive to rats, and that rats react to fox urine in a similar manner as to other psychostressors. Other plant chemicals are commonly occurring urinary metabolites: 3-isopentenyl alcohol (12), trans-geraniol (49), trans-geranylacetone (61), and the terpenes β-myrcene (27) and linalool (36). I don't intend to delve too deeply into the biochemistry of scents and scent production, but there are a couple of aspects that we need to be familiar with before we look at how foxes use scent.
Before we can understand how foxes employ scent, we need to take a brief look at what scent actually is and how it is both produced and detected. So, if even small quantities of scent left by animals can be “intercepted” and used by a predator to find its prey, or by prey to avoid a predator, scent marking is an inherently risky strategy, implying that there's a strong evolutionary driver behind the behaviour. Low molecular weight volatile apocarotenoids are potent odourants that attract pollinating insects, and include β-ionone, β-ionone-5,6-epoxide, 2,4,6-trimethylcyclohexanone and dihydroactinidiolide [ 98, 101]. The tubes were heated to 40°C, and after 5 min pre-incubation the fibre was inserted into the headspace.Fig 4) had greatest relative amounts of three sulfur compounds: dimethyl disulfide (14, 33%), dimethyl trisulfide (24, 15%) and S-methylthioacetate (10, 13%). We'll come to some of the specifics of the scents foxes produce and how they're generated shortly, but regardless of the signal compounds manufactured, a crucial part of any scent mark is its longevity - does it hang around long enough for others to read it? Rodent hosts, notably Rats ( Rattus spp), are probably the most common species with the highest rates of infection in close proximity to humans. Five sulfur compounds have only been found in foxes: 3-isopentenyl thiol (15), octanethiol (39), benzyl methyl sulfide (42), and 1- and 2-phenylethyl methyl sulfide (46 and 51) ( Table 1).
We have (like crazy people) been crawling around the house sniffing the floors/surfaces but the smell doesnt seem to be on anything in particular, just lingering in the air. The European red fox was introduced into Australia in the 1870s for recreational hunting, and within 20 years had expanded to pest proportions. In particular, a third of fox urinary volatiles are sulfur compounds, a notoriously odiferous group, with a limited distribution amongst other animals. Fig 3 summarizes the relative amounts of each compound found (as % total) as the quartiles (lower, 25%; median, 50%; upper, 75%) and range.Acetophenone has been found in all previous fox urine studies but only sometimes found in the urine of other species, suggesting that its production is variable. Animals learn to associate particular odours with characteristics of the emitting animal, for example detecting dietary-related compounds [ 66] or microbial products in a conspecific [ 67] or identifying predator or prey species [ 68]. The remaining compounds found were mostly frequent occurrences in mammalian urine, faeces or glandular secretions, although this does not preclude them from being fox semiochemicals. The acetophenone finding may be quite significant, since in no other animal has it been found in such abundance. When they become accustomed to humans, other nuisance behaviour such as bin-raiding and biting can occur [ 2].
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