Fear induced by predator-derived olfactory cues is thought to involve the amygdala. Now, Wang et al. describe an amygdala-independent pathway that mediates odour-evoked innate fear in mice.

The authors used trimethylthiazoline (TMT), a component of fox urine, to induce fear-like behaviour in mice while they were in an open arena. Compared with intact controls, amygdala-ablated mice showed a partial reduction in many fear-like behaviours, but no difference in escape behaviour, indicating that this behaviour was amygdala-independent.