COURTESY Upvoted.
Yup, you read that right. If you are one of those people who hate the smell of mosquito repellents available in the market, fret not because science has got you covered.
A new study published in the Journal of Insect Science
Reveals that Victoria’s Secret Bombshell perfume works as a pretty good mosquito repellent. Yeah! Now you can smell great AND repel bugs, at a cost of $68.
Researchers at New Mexico State University carried out the study to determine effectiveness of mosquito repellents and included the perfume to test claims that fruity floral scents attract insects.
One of the researchers tested the products by putting her repellent/perfume-covered hands in a tube that was full of swarming mosquitoes. The less mosquitoes bit her, the more effective the repellent. These were the results:
According to the study, mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide, lactic acid, and chemical changes made by the bacteria present in our sweat. So anything that combats these proves to be a good repellent.
And as you can see in the image above, Victoria’s Secret Bombshell too serves the purpose adequately.
Talking about scents and other species, did you know Calvin Klein’s perfume attracts wild animals and is used by wildlife photographers and videographers? Yes, that’s right.
Zoo supervisor Louise Ginman told the Scientific American: “We spray it [Calvin Klein] around the enclosure in lots of little concentrated sprays, and when the cats come out and smell it, they literally roll onto the ground, rub their cheeks all over it, and rub their faces with it. I guess it’s kind of like the reaction that you get from a cat when it’s enjoying catnip, they just seem to be in absolute heaven.”
A possible explanation for this behaviour could be the chemical civeton that is found in many perfumes and is said to resemble a territorial marking to jaguars, causing them to respond by rubbing their own scent on it, says zoo researcher and biologist Miguel Ordeñana.
