Читать книгу Animal Behavior for Shelter Veterinarians and Staff - Группа авторов - Страница 51

The importance of olfactory signals in hunting and conspecific communication has not been well studied. Cats seem to rely less on smell to locate prey compared to dogs (Montague et al. 2014); nevertheless, cats have a relatively robust sense of smell based on the numbers of olfactory receptors (Shreve and Udell 2017). Olfaction in cats, as in most non‐human animals, is composed of both the main and accessory systems. The main olfactory system is responsible for scent detection, whereas the distinct secondary system identifies socially relevant chemicals, such as pheromones. At the center of the accessory system is the vomeronasal organ, a cluster of specialized sensory cells that sit above the nasopalatine bone and connect to both oral and nasal passages, allowing evaluation of both airborne and fluid‐borne molecules (Brown and Bradshaw 2013). The information is relayed to the emotional centers of the brain, which can permit the animal to physiologically and behaviorally prepare for the appropriate action, usually without any conscious awareness (Mills 2005). A cat using the accessory olfactory system can be observed holding the mouth slightly agape, during which the flicking tongue draws salient molecules into the incisive duct, then up to the vomeronasal organ. The flehmen or “gaping” behavior is most commonly seen when a cat smells a strange cat’s urine (Hart and Leedy 1987; Houpt 2018).