The folks at the San Diego Zoo want your "old or unused cologne and perfume":
The Behavioral Biology Division of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research is currently conducting a research project examining individual and species enrichment preferences for large felids (lions, tigers, and cheetahs) at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (see post, Big Cat Preferences, Part 2). Based on some preliminary results, we are interested in learning more about different scents (perfumes) that attract the animals and promote the behavior of exploration.
For information about how to donate, go here. Many thanks to odonata9 for the link!
See also: Tiger Bait, Not Just For Tigers, Curious, unpredictable, and mischievous
I’d send mine, but I already give mine to our local zoo! Many zoos are experimenting with scent for animal enrichment purposes. I’ll be interested to see what San Diego’s findings are.
Oh, fun!
On the one hand, what if they discover that the fragrance that adds the most enrichment to the lives of big cats is an Amouage? Talk about the expense of keeping Tigger happy!
On the other hand, it looks like they may also be inundated with perfume. Now I love all animals, and I find this experiment intriguing, but I’m having an image of the well meaning but ignorant casting grandmom’s vintage Guerlain, Chanel, and other beauties at the zoo- and the I want to cry
If they didn’t know the value, then guessing those vintage Guerlains were going in the trash anyway…at any rate, they weren’t coming to me
Maybe the Tigers will enjoy them… better than them senselessly going to waste!
Hummm, …..maybe I could buy a tiger costume, get in the cage, and get those vintage bottles before the big cats…
I think they need a perfumista volunteer to perform “triage” on all the donations they receive.
I wonder if they would like Tigress? Or maybe Panthere?
I read an article a few months ago which stated that Calvin Klein Obsession for Men was the fragrance that kept big cats’ attention longer than any other perfume. According to the article, researchers were using fragrance not only for the enrichment of captive felines, but also to attract them to research stations in the wild (e.g., for counting purposes). I can’t remember where I read it, but I’m guessing it was the BBC on-line news. I was thinking of getting a bottle to keep my own cats enriched (like they don’t already rule the house), but I’ve never smelled Obsession for Men so I’m in two minds.
My brother works at the zoo and he has mentioned the cats liking Obsession as well. Remember reading about a lion that likes Charlie too. Will be interesting to find out what it is!
My dog comes running whenever I spritz perfume on me. He runs away and rolls around tormented if I (try to) spritz perfume on him.
I will be sending the opened bottle of “Chloe” I received as a gift, but cannot stand it I am curious what will be the wild cats reaction to this scent..
I love it when I wake up in the morning, pick up my cat and he smells like the perfume I wore to bed. This puts a whole new spin on perfume for cats!
I one tested DKNY apple, New York night or something like that. I kind of liked it – oriental and all, but I went to visit my neighbour and their one dog came in for a closer smell. Total recoil, the little thing looked like she had been electrocuted or something. Probably more discerning than me!
Love this idea! I wonder if any UK zoos are doing it.
My (small) felines are completely indifferent to fragrance. It would seem that unless it smells edible they don’t register the scent
Oh and I too love it when I pick one of them up and realise that they smell of my perfume. You’d think that it would bother an animal to smell of something so foreign but they don’t appear to care.
Haven’t noticed any fragrance effects on my cats, unless it was Eau du Fresh Cold Cuts or Canned or Fresh Fish…
Eau de Tuna is a favorite at my house
Jeepers, isn’t it kind of cruel to force animals, for whom scent is a way of tracking food as well as communicating among themselves to adopt our scent preferences? When a feline is in heat, I think she would “want” males of her breed to smell her, not Brittany Spear’s Fantasy.
I would be curious, however, to know, if felines react to civet in perfumes.
My cats seem generally disturbed by any perfumes or scents that get sprayed around them (so I do it in a room they don’t go). In my mind, perfumes must be VERY intense to sensitive animal noses!
I wonder how they would react to PG Felanilla?
It seems my cat likes perfumes: he always sniffs my wrist when I’m wearing something for testing.