Jul 03, 2015 01:31 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that mice who are exposed to cat urine are more likely to get caught by one.

Russian researchers found that mice that smell cat urine early in life, do not avoid the same odour, and therefore do not escape from their feline predators, later in life.

"Because the young mice (less than 2 weeks-old) are being fed milk while being exposed to the odor, they experience positive reinforcement," Dr. Vera Voznessenskaya, one of the lead researchers of the study, said in a statement. "So they don't escape the cats when exposed to cat odour later on."

For the study, researcher identified the molecule in the urine responsible for these effects as L-Felinine.

"We already knew that odour affects reproduction in mice: in fact, this molecule (L-Felinine) is capable of blocking pregnancy in females and reducing the size of the litter," Voznessenskaya said.

They also found that while mice don't escape from the odour later in life, they still experience hormonal changes throughout their life.

"Early exposure to cat odour changes behavioral reactions to, but not physiological (hormonal) responses in the mice, which remain elevated. In fact, mice that had experienced the odour showed stress response (elevated corticosterone) to cat odours in the same way as controls," she said.

The findings were presented at the Society for Experimental Biology 2015. 

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