A new study by researchers from the University of Tokyo has found that male goats give off a certain smell to attract female mates. Their body odor contains chemicals called pheromones that can trigger a hormonal response in the opposite sex.
A new study by researchers from the University of Tokyo has found that male goats give off a certain smell to attract female mates.
Their body odor contains chemicals called pheromones that can trigger a hormonal response in the opposite sex.
Two kinds of sex pheromones exist, known as releasers and primers.
Primer pheromones trigger physiological responses like the release of reproductive hormones that cause ovulation and menstruation.
Male goats give off a primer pheromone called 4-ethyloctanal, which had never been identified before this study.
This is also the first study to find that one molecule can activate the whole female reproductive center.
Researchers monitored the brain activity of female goats as they smelled male goat hair, and realized one particular compound had a pronounced effect on their brains thus leading them to isolate the 4-ethyloctanal pheromone.
Experts think that different animals have different responses to pheromones, so the goat smell could have an unknown effect on humans.
There are believed to be hundreds to thousands of pheromones given off by mammals, but only 15 to 20 of them have been identified by scientists.
