Mice Have a Nose for Love, Researchers Say
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
When it comes to love, mice are ahead of humans by a nose.
Researchers have discovered that mice, when deciding whether to mate, use a “second nose,” which figures out gender, status and even if romantic feelings are mutual.
The more familiar nose may tell an animal where food is, but a separate organ, called the vomeronasal organ, opens up a different world of perception, said Lawrence Katz, an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University.
The second, or mating, nose is a small tubular structure similar to a tongue and is found at the base of the regular nose, Katz said. The findings will be published in the journal Science.
