Ah, the smell of it

Wildlife biologists and conservationists (including Smithsonian scientists) routinely set up laser-triggered, remote-control camera traps to unobtrusively study the incidence and behaviors of hard-to-track species in inaccessible areas. The trick is drawing shy and elusive animals close enough for their picture to be taken. Scientists had been experimenting with various scents, including perfumes and colognes, when Wildlife Conservation Society biologists at work in Central America made an unusual discovery. Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men hit the olfactory hot-spot for jaguars in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. You might even say they became obsessed.

No animals were harmed in the making of this video because scientists were careful to shield them from any exposure to Calvin Klein’s 1980s television commercials.  Wish we could say the same.

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