What Are Pheromones?

Pheromones are proteins produced by living things, usually mammals, to send signals, usually to members of the same species. Pheromones are a little bit like hormones. However, whereas hormones are responsible for only internal communication within the body, pheromones act more widely outside the organism.

Pheromones are volatile so that they spread easily in the environment where they can be picked up by other animals. They are active in very small amounts and are quite often associated with sexual attraction. The pheromone of the female gypsy moth causes a response in the antennae of the male moth at concentrations as low as one in a thousand million million.

Humans produced pheromones and some people think they are involved in sexual attraction, but there is little firm evidence to back this up. Pheromones are also used as alarm signals, as trials to show other animals where to go for food and, in bees, to control other members of the hive. A pheromone produced by the queen bee suppresses the production of other queens, for example.

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