Calvin Klein's 'Obsession' Entrances Big Cats

Men's scent becomes secret weapon for zookeepers
By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 8, 2010 11:46 AM CDT
Calvin Klein's 'Obsession' Entrances Big Cats
Jaya, an endangered Sumatran tiger is shown in Tacoma, Wash.   (AP Photo/Point Defiance Zoo, John Froschauer)

Obsession for Men, Calvin Klein's musky scent for guys, may or may not work to lure the ladies, but it's a huge hit with tigers, leopards, and jaguars of both sexes. It's become the secret weapon of zoologists trying to entice big cats to linger, the Wall Street Journal reports. And not just any scent will do. In a Bronx Zoo test, the likes of Estee Lauder's Beautiful and Revlon's Charlie held the cats' attention for seconds, but they sniffed around Obsession for Men for more than 10 minutes.

It's a hit not only in zoos but in the wild. Scientists studying jaguars in Guatemala use a rag soaked in Obsession for Men to entice them to linger long enough to get good photos and even observe normally elusive mating rituals. What's the deal? "It's a combination of this lickable vanilla heart married to this fresh green top note," says the woman who created the cologne. "It creates tension." It also has synthetic "animal" notes, she adds, like the musky scent secreted by the civet.
(More Obsession for Men stories.)

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