People can smell a giraffe from up to a quarter of a kilometre away. But the nature of the powerful scent has divided opinion. It has been described by some as reminiscent of heather honey. To others, it is musky and nauseating. Now William Wood at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, and Paul Weldon at the Smithsonian Institution in Front Royal, Virginia, have unravelled the components of the peculiar scent.
They analysed giraffe hair and found the odour is mainly due to two highly pungent compounds, indole and 3-methylindole. The former occurs naturally in the floral scent of…
