Pheromone Paper

A pheromone is defined as a substance that causes a response in a natural behavioral response in another animal of the same species. There are an abundant amount of pheromones presently. For instance the alarm pheromones sex pheromones, food trail pheromones, and many others that affect behavior. Pheromonal use among insects has been well documented, even though many plants and vertebrates communicate using pheromones.

Pheromones are believed to be found throughout the world and have been traced back to the most ancient form of animal communication. For example the word pheromones originated from the Roman culture because it was believed soldiers had this intoxicating scent that attracted women. Yet in fact it was the heavy musky smell that women were attracted to back then.

This philosophy is extremely pertinent in the animal world; pheromones can be detected over wide distances and serve at some instances as a place of communication. Pheromones help signal sexual interest in animals, mark their territory, and recognize considerable mates. For example in the canine world female dogs in heat leave their pheromone and can attract alpha dogs for an estimated mile away.

In most reptiles, the Jacobson's organ, which is located in the area between the mouth and nose can detect pheromones, which is the first stage of the accessory system. Regular olfactory membranes detect some pheromones in these animals. In most animals, sexual pheromones show the availability of the female for breeding. Most insects release pheromones to attract a mate. And in many rare cases lepidopterans can detect a mate from as far away as six miles. Pheromones can be used to trail the opposite sexes for fertilization. For example, boar pheromones are released into the air, and those sows or female boars that exhibit sexual arousal are attracted and are ready to available for breeding.

Male animals in general emit pheromones that show information about what kind of species they are and even their genotype. The purpose of pheromones is to give information about genotype in some cases to avoid inbreeding among the same species. Females are generally attracted to males with the least similarity to their genotype, which means they are attracted to males who are the least likely to be related to them. Yet there is an exception to this theory. For instance when the female is pregnant they are most drawn to males with the most similarity among their pheromones which correlates to their genotype. Scientist believe the reason for this phenomena is that most females want to keep family close by to aid the young and to take advantage of protection.

In the world of animals, vertebrates have long been able to release pheromones, which have been proven to draw partners of the same species. Even though there has been recent findings of pheromones in the human body this idea has just been brushed on. In the past there have been older claims yet scientist failed to base them on controlled experiments and most scientists have yet to find this scientific evidence worth a second look.

In recent studies scientist have observed that correlated women with the same jobs or part of the same family tend to get relatively in sync menstrual cycles. Scientist as well as ordinary citizens who have experienced this issue with humans have contemplated this theory. Recently, there have been new experiments that show that the axillary or underarm odors released by females can effect a woman's ovulation cycle. These findings sort of intertwine with the theory that women who are housed together often develop relatively in sync menstrual periods.

These findings have also contributed to another theory that the compounds of perspiration have been associated with the body odors that change our mood and sometimes our body chemistry. Scientific studies have now shown that women are equally affected by pheromones from both sexes. Women who usually experience short or long menstrual cycles get somewhat closer cycles after regularly inhaling male essence which has been described as a certain amount of body odor, sweat, and hormones. Females who have been exposed to other female pheromones for certain durations of time whether it