Scientists in Guatemala have turned to the luxury industry as a way of luring jaguars to further their research.
They have discovered that Calvin Klein’s cologne, fittingly called ‘Obsession’, is extremely attractive to the ferocious animal. Despite much of the research being conducted by cameras, the scent is an invaluable means of bringing the creature into line of sight.
Jose Moreira from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) said: “The method we are using to study the jaguars here in Guatemala is an invasive method which is based on photographing the individuals by using camera traps.”
“It has been very useful using Obsession (for Men) to get the jaguars in front of these camera traps … and that allows us to estimate with greater confidence the genders and the numbers that live in each studied site.”
The phenomenon was first discovered via an experiment conducted by the WCS’s Bronx Zoo in New York. They wanted cheetahs to approach the camera traps and after several years of testing with different fragrances, found spraying the musky Obsession For Men near the heat-and-motion-sensitive cameras drew the cats for longer than any other scent.
In total they tried 23 other fragrances but Obsession for Men kept the cats’ attention for longest wihile Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps came second.
Garcia said the results will be invaluable to conservation efforts: “These camera traps help us to identify how many jaguars are living in this area … (and) helps us to have control over the population and lets us say to the government, to the public, that Laguna del Tigre still deserves conservation.”
The WCS said it slowly plans to expand the use of the cologne in programs in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.
(Source: reuters)