Are we chemically aposematic? Revisiting L. S. B. Leakey's hypothesis on human body odour

dc.contributor.authorWeldon, Paul J.
dc.date.accessioned2018-11-30T03:07:04Z
dc.date.available2018-11-30T03:07:04Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractAposematism entails a mutually beneficial avoidance of signal emitters by heterospecific signal receivers. The celebrated palaeoanthropologist L. S. B. Leakey hypothesized that humans are chemically aposematic, suggesting that our body odour repels large carnivores because they associate our 'bad smell' with what he alleged is our unpalatable flesh. Unpalatability, however, is one of many unprofitable traits potentially denoted by aposematic signals. Moreover, aposematism may arise in interactions with offenders other than predators. Here, I propose that the body odour of humans and, historically, of hominins denotes chemical emitters who exhibit formidable defensive traits, including large body size, agility, vigilance and the capabilities of deploying projectiles and other weapons and/or marshalling group defences. This hypothesis maintains that selection acts against (1) offenders, including carnivores, that fail to avoid chemicals from hominins, and (2) hominins who fail to emit distinguishing chemicals, thereby giving rise to a chemically mediated avoidance that is mutually beneficial, i.e. chemical aposematism. This hypothesis is examined in light of information on free-ranging New and Old World carnivores that avoid humans and on non-domesticated mammals suspected or confirmed to avoid human scent.
dc.format.extent221–228
dc.identifier0024-4066
dc.identifier.citationWeldon, Paul J. 2018. "<a href="https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/94992">Are we chemically aposematic? Revisiting L. S. B. Leakey&#39;s hypothesis on human body odour</a>." <em>Biological Journal of the Linnean Society</em>, 125, (2) 221–228. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/bly109">https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/bly109</a>.
dc.identifier.issn0024-4066
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10088/94992
dc.publisherOxford University Press
dc.relation.ispartofBiological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (2)
dc.titleAre we chemically aposematic? Revisiting L. S. B. Leakey&#39;s hypothesis on human body odour
dc.typearticle
sro.description.unitNZP
sro.identifier.doi10.1093/biolinnean/bly109
sro.identifier.itemID149332
sro.identifier.refworksID96348
sro.identifier.urlhttps://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/94992
sro.publicationPlaceOxford, England

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