A jaguar's cologne of choice?

Calvin Klein's Obsession: Researchers lure big cats to camera traps using the designer fragrance

• The fragrance contains a synthetic version of chemical compound civetone
• Civetone occurs naturally in the scent glands of the Asian civet mammal
• Study believes the perfume acts in a similar way to territorial markings
• Biologists are now using the cologne to lure cats into camera traps

By Victoria Woollaston
UPDATED:  11 October 2013

In the comedy classic Anchorman, Brian Fantana attempts to attract women using an aftershave dubbed Sex Panther - with limited success - but the filmmakers may have been on to something when it comes to the power of cologne and attraction. 

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo in New York discovered that large cats including cheetahs, jaguars and panthers are attracted in various degrees to different scents - with Calvin Klein's Obsession peaking the most interest. 

Now biologists are putting these findings to the test in the wild by spraying camera traps with Obsession in order to lure the wild felines into them. 

Researchers from Bronx Zoo discovered that large cats including cheetahs, jaguars, pictured, and panthers are attracted in various degrees to different scents - with Calvin Klein's Obsession peaking the most interest. Biologists are now putting these findings to the test in the wild

WHY CALVIN KLEIN'S OBSESSION?

Obsession contains a mixture of civetone and vanilla extract. 

Civetone is a chemical compound found in the scent glands of civets, a term applied to around a dozen mammal species found in southeast Asia and Africa. 

Early colognes used civetone derived from the African Civet, officially known as Civettictis civetta.

Modern-day perfurmes, including Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men, use a synthetic version of the scent. 

It is thought the compound acts in a similar way to territorial markings, which intrigue the cats enough to make them approach it. 

Obsession contains a mixture of civetone and vanilla extract. Civetone is a chemical compound found in the scent glands of civets, a term applied to around a dozen mammal species found in southeast Asia and Africa. 

 

Early colognes used civetone derived from the African Civet, officially known as Civettictis civetta.

Modern-day perfurmes, including Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men, use a synthetic version of this chemical. 

It is thought the compound acts in a similar way to territorial markings, which intrigue the cats enough to make them approach it.  

Researchers during the original 2010 study experimented with a range of different fragrances to see how two cheetahs reacted to them.

The cats spent more than 11 minutes - longer than any other scent - sniffing and nuzzling up to a tree sprayed with Obsession for Men.

 

 

The Calvin Klein fragrance, pictured left, is popular with jaguars and other large cats because it contains a synthetic version of a chemical taken from the scent glands of nocturnal mammals in Asia and Africa. Sex Panther, right, was a cologne used in the film Anchorman, said to be made from chemicals found in panthers

One program director in Guatemala has been using the perfume since 2007 to determine the jaguar's population in the jungle.

Roan Balas McNab who works in a a protected tropical forest uses the perfume's unique properties to keep jaguars still enough so he can take images of them using motion-sensitive cameras.

'But this technique is only effective if animals pass through the cameras' detection range and we get adequate photos,' McNab told the Wall Street Journal.

After hearing about its potency, his team tried spraying the perfume onto a rag tied to a stake in the ground.

'We're just starting to get an idea of how jaguars behave in their habitat,' McNab said. 'Before we used Obsession for Men we weren't able to get these images at all.'
Obsession for Men launched in 1986. Ann Gottlieb, one of the creators of Obsession for Men's scent, said it had synthetic 'animal' notes.

'It's a combination of this lickable vanilla heart married to this fresh green top note - it creates tension. It sparks curiosity with humans and, apparently, animals.'

Miguel Ordeñana, a biologist with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, has been using the scent on jaguar camera traps in Nicaragua.  

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