Home Science Pheromones and social status: Machos smell better

Pheromones and social status: Machos smell better

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Male house mice are territorial and scent-mark their territories with urine — and dominant, territorial males have much greater reproductive success than other males. A study now shows that female mice display preferential olfactory attraction to the scent of dominant males, and that dominant males have higher pheromone production than subordinates.