Seeking love? Just forget about looks and personality, but go and sniff out suitable partners.
Scientists have proved that mandrills, a primate cousin of humans, can use body odour to identify suitable potential mates. Researchers led by the University of Cambridge also found that mandrills can use odour to identify members of the same family or kin group, thereby avoiding the potentially devastating genetic consequences of inbreeding.
The research lends new support to the theory that humans also have the ability to “sniff out” suitable partners. “What we can infer for humans is that there are some very old behaviours at play here. Our early ancestors may have relied on smell in a similar way, and although we may think choosing a partner has more to do with looks or sound, smell can play an important role in the process,” Dr Leslie Knapp of the Cambridge University, who led the research, said.
The researchers identified strong parallels between the specific chemical compounds that determine a mandrill’s individual scent, and the pattern of their MHC, or major histo-compatibility complex, genes.
The MHC genes, which also have are linked to immunity, play an important role in mate choice for both humans and mandrills as both seek out partners with a different MHC pattern to their own on an “opposites attract” basis, resulting in greater diversity of immune response in the offspring they produce.
“Our results strongly suggest that smell allows mandrills to transmit information about their own genetic quality and similarity to one another,” Dr Knapp added. “By using smell they can then identify potential partners with the appropriate genes.”
The findings offer evidence that we may possess a similar ability to identify partners with an appropriately different MHC genotype, or family members with the same make-up, using our sense of smell, the researchers said.
The study has also solved the long unknown issue of the real importance of scent, or sternal, glands. “Scientists have long speculated about what their purpose might be. It would appear that we finally know. To be able to answer a question that has been unsolved since Darwin’s day feels quite amazing,” Knapp added.