Cats smell their way to identification—Iwate University nails “scent calling cards” onto chemistry.
The team used the “Flehmen reaction” (that face with the mouth half-open) as a clue, and found 13 rare branched-chain fatty acids in domestic cat urine. The combination and proportions differ from cat to cat; even when samples are taken from the same cat on a different day and left at room temperature for 24 hours, the profile remains relatively stable. And just changing this layer of lipid components makes the cats smell again.
Even better: these fats are stockpiled inside fat droplets in the kidney cortex. The century-old mystery of “why cat kidneys are full of fat droplets” now has a new candidate explanation: storing a buffer warehouse for scent signatures.
Similar clues have also been found in species such as the lion, tiger, and leopard, and Iriomote cat; identifying wild individuals still needs further verification.
Paper: Current Biology DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2026.07.045; Iwate University press release / EurekAlert; ScienceDaily 2026-09-20 reposts the news. Basic research—not a deodorizing product.
Figure: Iwate University press materials—flehmen (Masao Miyazaki) + experimental scent samples; non-AI
#猫咪 #research
The team used the “Flehmen reaction” (that face with the mouth half-open) as a clue, and found 13 rare branched-chain fatty acids in domestic cat urine. The combination and proportions differ from cat to cat; even when samples are taken from the same cat on a different day and left at room temperature for 24 hours, the profile remains relatively stable. And just changing this layer of lipid components makes the cats smell again.
Even better: these fats are stockpiled inside fat droplets in the kidney cortex. The century-old mystery of “why cat kidneys are full of fat droplets” now has a new candidate explanation: storing a buffer warehouse for scent signatures.
Similar clues have also been found in species such as the lion, tiger, and leopard, and Iriomote cat; identifying wild individuals still needs further verification.
Paper: Current Biology DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2026.07.045; Iwate University press release / EurekAlert; ScienceDaily 2026-09-20 reposts the news. Basic research—not a deodorizing product.
Figure: Iwate University press materials—flehmen (Masao Miyazaki) + experimental scent samples; non-AI
#猫咪 #research
