Scent‐marking is an important form of communication for solitary species, as the information remains for the receiver after the sender has left the area. Individuals of different demographic or dominance classes (ranks) need to provide different information to conspecifics. Therefore, the use of scent‐marking sites is of particular value for solitary species, but their functional role may vary between demographic classes. Using camera traps, we video‐recorded the behaviour of cheetahs at scent‐marking sites, assessing how individuals of different sex and social rank use the sites for different roles. We tested hypotheses that these sites are for territorial marking, reproductive signalling and information gathering. We found that females visit the sites infrequently, apparently to signal oestrous events, while males visit the sites frequently for territorial marking and information gathering. Among males, dominant individuals scent‐marked the most and reacted to female visitation by vocalizing. In contrast, subordinate males, although also visiting the sites, were not recorded scent‐marking nor vocalizing. These differences in the functional use of scent‐marking sites among sex and social rank support the hypotheses that cheetahs use these scent‐marking sites for both territorial and reproductive signalling, as well as to gather information.

中文翻译：

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猎豹在有气味的地点的行为表明按性别和社会地位的使用差异

气味标记是孤独物种交流的一种重要形式，因为信息在发送者离开该区域后仍保留给接收者。不同人口或优势级别（等级）的个人需要为具体人群提供不同的信息。因此，使用气味标记位点对独居物种具有特殊价值，但它们的功能作用可能因人口类别而异。我们使用摄像头陷阱，在气味标记现场录制了猎豹的行为，评估了不同性别和社会地位的人如何利用这些网站来扮演不同的角色。我们检验了以下假设：这些站点用于领土标记，生殖信号传递和信息收集。我们发现，女性很少会访问这些地点，这显然表明发生了严重事件，而雄性则经常访问这些地点以进行地域标记和信息收集。在男性中，主要个体的气味最为明显，并通过发声对女性来访做出反应。相比之下，下属男性虽然也参观了这些地点，但没有记录到任何气味标记或发声。性别和社会地位之间在气味标记部位的功能使用上的这些差异支持了猎豹的假设小号使用这些气味标记位点都领土和生殖信号，以及收集信息。