A new study by Yale scientists has found that animals can recognize and stay away from other animals that may infect them with a disease. Professor David Skelly said that research completed in his laboratory in collaboration with Professor Joseph Kiesecker , who is now at Penn State University, shows that healthy animals can distinguish the odors given off by infected animals and will keep their distance from diseased individuals. If these behaviors are widespread, they could be important in making accurate predictions of the spread of disease. Skelly, whose study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the authors found that bullfrog tadpoles were able to tell when others of their species were infected with a fungus that attacks the digestive tract.
Healthy tadpoles can become sick by spending time near infected animals.
When presented with an infected bullfrog tadpole, the tadpoles moved up to a foot away, he said. The nature of the chemical cue is entirely unknown. Skelly and Kiesecker have found that tadpoles are highly sensitive to their environment. Responding to disease risk may be quite similar from an animal's perspective.