Bengaluru: What if one of the world’s most effective enrichment tools for big cats wasn’t a specially designed wildlife product, but a commercial men’s perfume available off the shelf? As unusual as it sounds, a few sprays of a popular men’s fragrance on a piece of cloth were enough to transform an ordinary afternoon for big cats at Bannerughatta Biological Park (BBP) into an exciting and stimulating experience.In what’s believed to be one of the first such experiments in an Indian zoo, BBP introduced perfume-based olfactory enrichment for captive carnivores, including lions, tigers, leopards and cheetahs. The week-long pilot, taken up last week, aimed to stimulate the animals’ senses, encourage natural behaviours, and keep them mentally active in captivity.As part of the exercise, Calvin Klein’s ‘Obsession for Men’ was sprayed on cloth pieces and enrichment objects placed inside enclosures. Caretakers monitored how the animals responded, including time spent investigating the scent and the nature of their interactions. The results surprised them.Several animals showed intense curiosity, repeatedly approaching the scented cloths, sniffing, licking and rubbing their faces against them. Leopards, in particular, remained engaged for nearly 15 minutes, among the longest interactions recorded during the trial. Overall, big cats stayed interested for 15-20 minutes, displaying sustained exploratory behaviour rarely seen with conventional enrichment objects.BBP executive director AV Surya Sen said carnivores rely heavily on scent to navigate their surroundings and locate prey. “A new smell can be as stimulating as a new landscape. We used this perfume because it contains civetone, a compound similar to chemicals found in the scent secretions of civet cats. To big cats, the fragrance appears to be a biologically relevant signal rather than an unfamiliar odour. It triggers investigation, scent-marking and exploratory behaviour that forms part of their natural repertoire,” he said.BBP biologists said big cats possess highly sensitive olfactory systems capable of detecting subtle scent cues. While food and physical enrichment methods are common in Indian zoos, scent-based enrichment remains largely unexplored. After securing permissions, BBP tested the technique and found the initial response encouraging. Officials believe the experiment could lead to wider use of scent-based enrichment programmes in Indian zoos.
