Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Science

A 100-year-old mystery in the cat kidney may be linked to scent communication

Many animals obtain information about others from scent marks left in the environment, including urine. Because these marks remain after the sender has left, they allow animals to communicate across space and time. But odor molecules evaporate, degrade and change after release. How, then, can a scen...

A 100-year-old mystery in the cat kidney may be linked to scent communication
Image: Phys.org
Many animals obtain information about others from scent marks left in the environment, including urine. Because these marks remain after the sender has left, they allow animals to communicate across space and time. But odor molecules evaporate, degrade and change after release. How, then, can a scent mark continue to convey reliable information about who left it?

Originally published at Phys.org

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