Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!apple!netcom!ergo
From: ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Pheromones and Sex
Message-ID: <11649@netcom.UUCP>
Date: 9 Aug 90 00:53:35 GMT
References: <37900@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <1990Aug1.150051.17707@mercury.cair.du.edu> <6141.26beacb6@ccvax.ucd.ie>
Reply-To: ergo@netcom.uucp
Distribution: sci.bio
Organization: UESPA
Lines: 29

In <6141.26beacb6@ccvax.ucd.ie> jlynch@ccvax.ucd.ie (John M. Lynch) writes:

>In article <1990Aug1.150051.17707@mercury.cair.du.edu>, mhassman@zephyr.cair.du.edu (Arlo Crymble) writes:
>> Question:  Isn't the bull able to determine if
>> he has had intercourse with the cow by smell and
>> can he also determine if the cow is pregnant in
>> the same fashion?
>> 
>Pheromonal control plays an important part in reproduction in all terrestrial
>mammals. Work has shown that a male can individually identify females by their
>scent and determine their reproductive status. Pheromones can act as inducers
>of sexual behaviour. Similarly they can cause oestrus synchrony in females.-- 

That all sounds very plausible.  But it hasn't prevented cattle
breeders from collecting semen from bulls *without* any cows being
present.  Apparently a bull can, if properly (or maybe improperly)
brought up, can be aroused by female manniquens or even by steers.
(I'll refrain from repeating what thye call the latter.) I'm told
that most breeders consider the old-fashioned methods too risky.
Indeed, some farm animals have been bred this way so long that
they're no longer capable of "natural" sex.
-- 

ergo@netcom.uucp			Isaac Rabinovitch
atina!pyramid!apple!netcom!ergo		Silicon Valley, CA
uunet!mimsy!ames!claris!netcom!ergo

	"I hate quotations.  Tell me what you know!"
			-- Ralph Waldo Emerson