Japanese researchers have recently reported in the journal Nature that the tears of male bats contain a type of “love scent” that, when bats sniff each other, this fragrance wafts directly into the noses of female bats to entice them.
This discovery of the “love scent” by the researchers from the Land of the Rising Sun will help us better understand the communication signals exchanged among animals.
Socially and in terms of “reproduction“, the chemical substances (known as pheromones) released from the bodies of various mammals often carry their scent over long distances to “attract” members of the opposite sex. For example, the urine of mice contains a substance regarded as “a message” communicated to one another.
Hiroko Kimoto and his colleagues from the University of Tokyo further demonstrated that the “love scents” of these animals can also be recognized even when they are close to each other, without the need for the scent to travel far.
The tears (ivory) of male bats contain a protein called ESP1, which does not disperse over long distances, and nearby female bats (whether hanging upside down or not?) can immediately detect it through the special structure of their nasal passages.
Mr. Kimoto suggests that this protein may play a significant role in recognizing these types of “love scents” among these animals.
