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Female cheetahs at the Bronx Zoo in New York just love Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men perfume.
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| A cheetah at the Bronx Zoo in New York rubs a log that has been sprayed with perfume |
No, they don't dab their favorite perfume behind their ears, but they do enjoy rubbing up against tree stumps sprayed with the scent.
Instead this is part of a program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates New York City's zoos and aquariums, to keep animals healthy and happy.
"We want to enrich the daily lives of the animals, both physically and psychologically," Diana Reiss, senior research scientist at the Conservation Society, told reporter. "One of the ways we do that is offering our animals different kinds of scents to give them variety."
The scents provide a way to stimulate the animals. Reiss said smell is essential to the lives of animals. "With our cheetahs at the Bronx Zoo, we worked from inexpensive perfumes to expensive perfumes," she said. "The one they respond to the most is Calvin Klein Obsession for Men. But they also respond to inexpensive perfumes."
The wildlife workers test the animals' response to various scents by spraying tree stumps with different perfumes or placing cinnamon or other spices in the animals' environment. "We'll observe how much time they spend in that area," Reiss said.
But not all animals have high-class tastes when it comes to scents, Reiss said. Female cheetahs at the Bronx Zoo may rank Obsession for Men as their favorite perfume. But forget that for the pumas and lynx at the Queens Zoo. They'll take skunk urine extract any day.
(Agencies)
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紐約布朗克斯動物園的雌非洲豹最近迷上了CK（Calvin Klein）推出的一款名為"迷惑"的男士香水。
不過它們并不是把香水擦在耳后，而是喜歡在灑了這種香水的樹樁周圍活動。
這實際上是國際野生生物保護協會在紐約動物園和水族館展開的一項新研究，目的是讓動物們更加健康快樂地生活。
協會里的高級研究員、科學家黛安娜·賴斯說："我們想要在生理和心理上豐富動物們的日常生活。其中一個辦法就是讓動物們享受各種各樣的香氣。"
香味能在一定程度上刺激動物。賴斯說氣味在動物的生活中起著很重要的作用，"我們讓布朗克斯動物園里的非洲豹試了各種香水，從廉價的到昂貴的。他們對CK的'迷惑'男士香水反應最強烈。但一些廉價的香水也挺受他們歡迎的。"
研究人員把不同的香水噴灑在樹樁上，或是在動物生活的環境中放上肉桂及其他香料，觀察它們對于不同氣味所做出的反應。賴斯說："我們主要是比較動物們在該環境中逗留的時間長短。"
她又介紹說，并不是所有的動物都有高品位的嗅覺要求。布朗克斯動物園的雌非洲豹對"迷惑"男士香水情有獨鐘，而皇后動物園的美洲獅和猞猁卻完全不吃這一套，它們任何時候都會對臭鼬尿液提取物感興趣。
rub up against: 接近
（中國日報網站譯）
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Updated: 2003-02-12 01:00
