The world is a mask that hides the real world.
Thatâs what everybody suspects, though the world we see wonât let us dwell on it long.
The world has ways - more masks - of getting our attention.
The suspicion sneaks in now and again, between the cracks of everyday existenceâ¦the bird song dips, rises, dips, trails off into blue sky silence before the note that would reveal the shape of a melody that, somehow, would tie everything together, on the verge of unmasking the hidden armature that frames this sky, this tree, this bird, this quivering green leaf, jewels in a crown.â¦
As the song dies, the secret withdraws.
The tree is a mask.
The sky is a mask.
The quivering green leaf is a mask.
The song is a mask.
The singing bird is a mask.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
"Bats" Rasmussen decodes foul-smelling elephant love potion
Study unveils bull elephants' sexy secret
Thursday, December 22, 2005
by RICHARD L. HILL, The Oregonian
A complex chemical cocktail emitted by older Asian bull elephants makes them more attractive than younger males to some females, a study by Oregon and New Zealand scientists has found.
The delicately balanced potion sends a clear message that influences elephants' behavior in an older bull's neighborhood. By giving a better understanding of the mysteries of elephants' chemical communication, the study may prove useful in helping conservationists manage the animals in the wild and in captivity.
L.E.L. "Bets" Rasmussen, a scientist at Oregon Health & Science University, and researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand report the discovery in today's issue of the journal Nature.
Adult male elephants secrete a foul-smelling compound during their annual bouts with musth, a period of heightened sexual activity and aggression. A bull in musth discharges the dark, oily substance from a temporal gland on each side of its head about midway between the eye and the ear.
The study found that older males emit a more balanced mixture of two versions of a pheromone, or chemical signal, called frontalin, than younger males. Ovulating females are attracted by the balanced secretion of the older bulls, while other elephants tend to stay clear and even run away.
"We were surprised, because this is the first time that this precise chemical signaling has been identified in mammals," said Rasmussen, a biochemist at OHSU's OGI School of Science and Engineering in Hillsboro. Bark beetles use frontalin in a similar fashion to attract other beetles. Although the compound is an attractant, she said, it's not considered a sex pheromone, because "it doesn't elicit overt mating behavior."
The subtle chemical signals involve the ratios of what are called enantiomers. An enantiomer is one of a pair of chemical compounds whose molecular structures are mirror images of each other. Young males tend to produce secretions that primarily contain one enantiomer, while older males have a 50-50 ratio of both forms.
An analysis of secretion samples from six male elephants found that the pheromone is first detectable when the animals are in their late teens. The ratios of the two forms of frontalin became almost equal between the ages of about 31 and 43.
"As they get older, the ratio of the forms of frontalin evens out," Rasmussen said. "So the message they're sending out is changing as they grow older."
David R. Greenwood, a biologist at the University of Auckland and the study's lead author, said team members were "quite surprised" by the findings because scientists had assumed elephants made only one form of frontalin. With the changing ratios of the two forms, "you end up having a signal that is essentially different. It's not just a single message."
For the past two decades, Rasmussen has been collecting temporal gland secretions from elephants in musth, when they can be dangerous. Samples used in the study were from elephants at the Oregon Zoo, the Auckland Zoo, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida and Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Arkansas.
Rasmussen is a leading expert on chemical communication signals in elephants. A decade ago, she identified the sex pheromone -- (Z)-7-dodecenyl-1-yl-acetate -- that female elephants secrete in their urine to let bulls know they're ready to mate.
In a Nature article four years ago, Rasmussen described how male Asian elephants use two fragrances to indicate when they are in musth. Young bulls emit a honey-scented secretion when they are between 8 and 12 years old but the more foul-smelling substance when they reach their 20s.
The new findings might be useful in studying how the scent-detecting process may relate to behavior at a basic level in other animals, including humans, Rasmussen said. "That's why I'm more excited about this discovery of any of my past research."
Thursday, December 22, 2005
by RICHARD L. HILL, The Oregonian
A complex chemical cocktail emitted by older Asian bull elephants makes them more attractive than younger males to some females, a study by Oregon and New Zealand scientists has found.
The delicately balanced potion sends a clear message that influences elephants' behavior in an older bull's neighborhood. By giving a better understanding of the mysteries of elephants' chemical communication, the study may prove useful in helping conservationists manage the animals in the wild and in captivity.
L.E.L. "Bets" Rasmussen, a scientist at Oregon Health & Science University, and researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand report the discovery in today's issue of the journal Nature.
Adult male elephants secrete a foul-smelling compound during their annual bouts with musth, a period of heightened sexual activity and aggression. A bull in musth discharges the dark, oily substance from a temporal gland on each side of its head about midway between the eye and the ear.
The study found that older males emit a more balanced mixture of two versions of a pheromone, or chemical signal, called frontalin, than younger males. Ovulating females are attracted by the balanced secretion of the older bulls, while other elephants tend to stay clear and even run away.
"We were surprised, because this is the first time that this precise chemical signaling has been identified in mammals," said Rasmussen, a biochemist at OHSU's OGI School of Science and Engineering in Hillsboro. Bark beetles use frontalin in a similar fashion to attract other beetles. Although the compound is an attractant, she said, it's not considered a sex pheromone, because "it doesn't elicit overt mating behavior."
The subtle chemical signals involve the ratios of what are called enantiomers. An enantiomer is one of a pair of chemical compounds whose molecular structures are mirror images of each other. Young males tend to produce secretions that primarily contain one enantiomer, while older males have a 50-50 ratio of both forms.
An analysis of secretion samples from six male elephants found that the pheromone is first detectable when the animals are in their late teens. The ratios of the two forms of frontalin became almost equal between the ages of about 31 and 43.
"As they get older, the ratio of the forms of frontalin evens out," Rasmussen said. "So the message they're sending out is changing as they grow older."
David R. Greenwood, a biologist at the University of Auckland and the study's lead author, said team members were "quite surprised" by the findings because scientists had assumed elephants made only one form of frontalin. With the changing ratios of the two forms, "you end up having a signal that is essentially different. It's not just a single message."
For the past two decades, Rasmussen has been collecting temporal gland secretions from elephants in musth, when they can be dangerous. Samples used in the study were from elephants at the Oregon Zoo, the Auckland Zoo, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida and Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Arkansas.
Rasmussen is a leading expert on chemical communication signals in elephants. A decade ago, she identified the sex pheromone -- (Z)-7-dodecenyl-1-yl-acetate -- that female elephants secrete in their urine to let bulls know they're ready to mate.
In a Nature article four years ago, Rasmussen described how male Asian elephants use two fragrances to indicate when they are in musth. Young bulls emit a honey-scented secretion when they are between 8 and 12 years old but the more foul-smelling substance when they reach their 20s.
The new findings might be useful in studying how the scent-detecting process may relate to behavior at a basic level in other animals, including humans, Rasmussen said. "That's why I'm more excited about this discovery of any of my past research."
