In Brief  Squirrels have keen noses. So keen, in fact, they can
recognize their relatives with a whiff, according to research
published by psychologist Jill M. Mateo, PhD, in the British
journal Proceedings: Biological Sciences (Vol. 269, No. 1492).
In her research on two species of ground squirrels, the Cornell
University psychologist found that squirrels can recognize
whether another squirrel is related to them--and to what degree
--just by smelling the odors given off by their glands.  In a
series of trials, Mateo gathered scent samples from "donor"
Belding's ground squirrels and transferred the scents onto coded
plastic cubes she placed at the entrances of burrows. Since
researchers know that squirrels only need a quick sniff to
recognize close kin, but take a longer time smelling the scent
of distant kin or nonkin, Mateo measured how long a squirrel
investigated the unfamiliar scent on the cube.  She found that
the closer the investigating squirrel was related to the scent
donor, the less time it spent s