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| Calvin Klein Obsession for Women |
Designers often advertise that their perfume and
cologne products drive sniffers wild. But I think even
Calvin Klein himself
might be surprised to learn that his cologne, Obsession for Men, attracts
jaguars, pumas and other wildlife, according to the Wildlife Conservation
Society.
(Jaguar caught sniffing Calvin Klein Obsession
for Men; Credit for all images: WCS)
The WCS has just admitted that its researchers
have been using the popular cologne to draw animals in front of remote cameras
set up in the wilderness.
The cameras are triggered by an infra-red beam,
permitting candid shots of animals as they come by to investigate.
One place where this technique is now being used
is at the Maya Biosphere Reserve, one of the largest protected areas in Central
America. Animal experts there are trying to estimate populations of elusive
jaguars.
Pat Thomas, General Curator of the Wildlife
Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo, came up with the unusual cologne-attractant
technique. He settled on Calvin Klein Obsession for Men after discovering that
the zoo's tigers, snow leopards and cheetahs were drawn to it more than any
other commercially produced scent.
The big cats rubbed, sniffed, pawed, and
otherwise thoroughly enjoyed the designer cologne.
“Calvin Klein Obsession for Men clearly passes
the sniff test among the WCS Bronx Zoo’s big cat population,” said Thomas.
“More importantly, this work is a great example of how The Wildlife
Conservation Society’s Living Institutions and Global Conservation Programs
work together to save wildlife and wild places.”
As predicted, the cologne is doing a great job at
attracting jaguars to the hidden camera setup.
The images show individual jaguars lingering
around a cloth treated with the cologne and repeatedly sniffing it. One pair of
jaguars even shows some very rarely seen mating behavior, so the smell seems to
turn these animals on.
"Jaguars are highly elusive creatures and
for years WCS researchers struggled to develop more effective methods for
estimating how many jaguars were in the forest, hidden amongst the ancient Maya
temples,” said Roan McNab, WCS Guatemala Country Director. “Now, due to the
fact that jaguars love Obsession for Men, WCS field conservationists are
getting more precise estimates of jaguar populations.”
Based on the photos released by the WCS, the
cologne also attracts pumas, ocelots, tapirs, peccaries and coatis.
Culled From Discovery
