In 1921 Coco Chanel changed the fragrance world with her ever-popular Chanel No. 5. In need of a musky base note, Coco used scrapings of sexual pheromones from the perianal (read: anal) gland of the Abyssinian civet cat– sexual pheromones that are found in cat pee. 

So, how does this make Chanel No. 5 a marketplace winner? It all has to do with a mind-control parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. The tiny protozoan may be getting into our brains and tricking us into liking cats– along with certain perfumes.

Toxo reproduces cats’ stomachs,  but can end up in a human’s brain courtesy of forgetting to wash one’s hands after cleaning cat litter or eating undercooked meat with Toxo in it.  And get this: it seems Toxo can hijack the sexual attraction circuit to respond to cat urine.

In a recent study, Czech scientists gave men and women towels scented with the urine of various animals–horses, lions, hyenas, cats, dogs–which they rated for “pleasantness.” Turns out, men who tested positive for Toxo preferred the smell of cat urine more than men without Toxo.

Once you have Toxo in your brain, you have it for life (don’t worry, it’s harmless. So far). But it could be responsible for men infected with Toxo finding women scented with undertones of cat urine more attractive. Unintentional genius? Maybe. But not bad, considering at least 45 per cent of men harbour the scent-altering Toxo parasite in their brains.

Grossed out? You’ll be glad to know Chanel stopped using civet in 1998 for animal rights reasons, replacing it with a synthetic version.

Read more about it on Slate.com

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