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DiscoveryThe Life Scientific: Jane HurstThe sex pheromone that drives mice wild with lust

Cartoons by Life Scientific listener J Doug Lawrence

  • In 2010, a sex pheromone called Darcin was found in the urine of male mice
  • If a female has direct contact with the urine, she develops a strong attraction to that particular male…
  • …and remembers his scent when they meet again
  • The pheromone was named after Jane Austin’s Mr Darcy
  • Darcin is the only pheromone of its kind to be discovered in a mammal

This gallery is from

  • Discovery—The Life Scientific: Jane Hurst

    Jane Hurst reveals how mice are ruled by their noses.

    BBC World Service

Galleries

  • The Colour Conundrum—The colour conundrum

  • The sex pheromone that drives mice wild with lust—The Life Scientific: Jane Hurst

  • Lucy Cooke searches for the elusive pygmy sloth—The power of petite

  • Ascension Island—The Mars of the Mid-Atlantic

See all galleries from Discovery (7)

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