allomark

present singular third person allomarks · participle present allomarking · participle past allomarked · past allomarked

1. biologyTo scent mark onto the body of an individual of the same species.

   […] dholes, Cuon alpinus, may allomark from a handstand.

   1985 August 15, Social Odours in Mammals: Volume II (Oxford Science Publications)

   3 more examples

   Cats allomark (mark each other) by rubbing the cheek and perioral regions against each other. The initiator of such a rubbing interaction may thereby deposit scent on the recipient (and/or pick it up).

   1988, Turner, Dennis C., The Domestic Cat : the Biology of its Behaviour

   The frequency with which dwarf mongooses allomark before, during, and after estrus in the dominant female.

   1989, Gittleman, John L, Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution

   Two types of allomarking have been distinguished: sequential allomarking, whereby a badger marks the flank or rump of another individual, and mutual allomarking, in which both badgers press their subcaudal glands together (probably thereby swapping the bacterial communities that determine the nuances of their olfactory signature).

   2005, Nowak, Ronald M, Walker's carnivores of the world