Scent of gerbil cuisine.

Preweanling and postweaning offspring of gerbil parents fed Purina Laboratory Chow or Pooch dog food show selective preference for odors coming from other animals of these same diets. Odors with differential quality include whole animal, cage material and ventral scent gland sebum. Apparently diet alters chemosignals, even those from a specialized scent gland. Species-specific pheromones may be dependent on ingested foodstuffs or other ecological chemicals.