However, in the jungle of Madagascar, Africa, there is such a primate, which is born? Pick up hot chicks artifact? . In the journal Contemporary Biology published on April 16, a scientist reported in a paper that male ring-tailed lemurs distributed in Madagascar have a special gland on their wrists, which can secrete a smell similar to flowers or fruits, which is very attractive to female ring-tailed lemurs.
Through detailed chemical analysis, the researchers identified three compounds related to this special fragrance. This study also marks the first time that scientists have discovered pheromones in primates.
During the annual breeding season, male lemurs rub their hairy tails with glands on their wrists, and then use a kind of animal called? Flirting stinks? The act of waving to female lemurs and releasing gas with special fragrance to attract their attention? Kazushige Touhara, a biochemist from Tokyo University in Japan, said.
Ring-tailed lemurs have well-developed odor glands on their shoulders and wrists. These glands are usually used to indicate social class, territory and reproductive status. However, behavioral observation shows that they also use their scent glands to attract females' attention. Because only ring-tailed lemurs have these wrist glands, and it shows? Smelly color? The researchers concluded that the specific smell of sexual communication must be involved.
At the Japanese Monkey Research Center (JMC) in Aichi Prefecture, Japan and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Tokyo, Japan, Seiji Maehara and his team members tracked the courtship behavior of ring-tailed lemurs. They observed that compared with male ring-tailed lemurs, female lemurs smell these odor traces more frequently and for longer in the breeding season when they accept sexual behavior. In addition, when the researchers isolated the perfume from four male ring-tailed lemurs and presented it to the female ring-tailed lemurs alone, they found that the female lemurs smelled the fruit for about twice as long as the bitter gland secretions they smelled in the off-season.
Females spend more seconds smelling flowers and fruits than the control group, and sometimes even licking them. Although it sounds short, it is enough to identify or arouse men's curiosity.
The researchers identified the main chemical components of male odor by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of wrist gland secretions produced in breeding season and non-breeding season. These two odors contain three aldehydes: dodecanal, dodecatridecanol and tetradecanal, but they show obvious high concentrations in the breeding season. In addition, when these compounds were presented to females alone in the research experiment, the researchers found that only the mixture of these three compounds had significant ability to attract females' attention.
These three compounds are considered to be involved in the recognition of newborn sheep by ewes, and tetradecanal is called sex pheromone in some insect species. Although this is the first time that dodecytridecane aldehyde has been found in primates, it seems that these three aldehydes are widely used as communication tools in the whole animal kingdom.
The researchers found that young, sexually mature male ring-tailed lemurs are more likely to produce these compounds than older male ring-tailed lemurs because older males produce less testosterone. In addition, scientists have also observed that females who have passed the baby boom are completely uninterested in the fruit smell emitted by males. These findings show that these three compounds are indeed pheromones, but scientists need to do more work to determine whether they directly affect sexual behavior. Although we haven't studied the behavioral changes after sniffing in detail, it is a work field to determine whether these pheromones affect mating success in the future.
In fact, we don't have to envy male ring-tailed lemurs, even if they all have them? Pick up hot chicks artifact? These? Artifact? There will always be advantages and disadvantages between them, which means there will still be competition between them. With or without this. Artifact? To attract others, you have to be your best self.