Do Urinary Volatiles Carry Communicative Messages in Himalayan Snow Leopards [Panthera uncia, (Schreber, 1775)]?

Felids urinate and spray ‘Marking Fluid’ for territorial maintenance and to transmit messages of their reproductive status. The very rare Himalayan snow leopard also utilises these two primary modes for chemical communication. The present paper is the first report on the volatiles in urine of snow leopards which were analysed with the help of headspace solid phase micro extraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Chemical profiles revealed the presence of numerous low molecular weight compounds with different functional groups like alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, sulphur containing compounds. Many monoterpene alcohols, which are common secondary metabolites of plants, are abundant in the urine collected during the months of October to December, the typical reproductive season of the snow leopard in the Darjeeling hills of the Eastern Himalaya. 6-Methyl-5-hepten-2-one was identified from this felid which has a characteristic odour perceptible by the human nose. Among many sulphur containing compounds, Dimethyl disulfide and Dimethyl trisulfide were common in all urine samples of both sexes. Saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids were also identified from the lipid fraction of the urine which, in nature, may play an important role by increasing the durability of the volatiles.