Elephant erection truncated: Nasal pheromones turn sexual arousal on and off.
Elephant erection truncatedNasal pheromones turn sexual arousal on and off.
4 October 2002
KENDALL POWELL
Molecule checks priapic beasts.
B. Rasmussen
A protein in a male elephant's trunk may shut down elephant erections. The finding could give breeders better control of mating by putting animals in the mood for love.
Researchers in Utah and Oregon have found that the mucus protein quells the horny beasts by soaking up the sex pheromone that triggers an erection1. Scentless pheromones are part of animals' chemical communications system.
Male elephants constantly monitor the urine of their female harem to find out which ones are in heat, explains biological chemist Glenn Prestwich of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. 'If a female's urine has the pheromone, it stimulates a mating response and, well, the rest is history.'" . . .
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