Japanese researchers have reported in the journal Nature that the tears of male bats contain a type of “love scent” that, when the bats sniff each other, this scent penetrates the nostrils of female bats, enticing them.
This discovery of the “love scent” by researchers from the Land of the Rising Sun will help us better understand the communication signals exchanged among animals.
Both socially and in terms of “reproduction“, the chemicals (known as pheromones) released from the bodies of mammals typically have a scent that can travel a long distance to “attract” members of the opposite sex. For instance, the urine of mice contains a substance considered as “a message” conveyed between them.
Hiroko Kimoto and their colleagues from the University of Tokyo further demonstrated that these “love scents” are recognized by animals even when they are in close proximity, without the need for the scent to disperse over a distance.
The tears (or ivory) of male bats contain a protein called ESP1, which does not disperse over long distances, and female bats nearby (or hanging upside down?) can immediately recognize it through the specialized nasal structure of bats.
Mr. Kimoto suggests that proteins may play an important role in recognizing these types of “love scents” in these animals.