While we typically hear pheromones mentioned when we are speaking of the animal kingdom, they are
also present in humans, and more recently, colognes and other products to increase the sexual desire
of someone. Since animals can’t hit the gym and simply get buff, pheromones are a large part of the
attraction between them, and believe it or not, pheromones influence attraction in humans, too.
There are many different types of pheromones that exist, even though we usually hear about the ones
used for increasing sexual desire. Simply put, pheromones are chemicals released by the body, but
different pheromones can have vastly different functions. For example, one specific type of pheromone
is called the “releaser pheromone”. In certain animals, these releaser pheromones can be detected
miles away, and can attract a potential mate from this great distance. While many people might
be upset to find out that human beings do not possess such a power, human pheromones are still
interesting in themselves.
Another type of pheromone is what is referred to as the “trail pheromone”. These trail pheromones are
often found in small insects, a well known example being the common ant. Instead of being used for
reproductive purposes like the aforementioned releaser pheromone, the trail pheromone is used for
survival of the ant colony. When the ants have found a food source, on their way back to the ant nest
they release the trail pheromone in, yep, you guessed it, a trail. While the ants travel back and forth to
the vibrant food source, the ants are continually releasing the trail pheromones to tell the other ants
to continue retrieving food from the source. When the ants begin to deplete the source of food, the
trail pheromones become gradually weaker to signal to the other ants that the food source will soon be
useless to them.
So as you can see, pheromones have a wide variety of purposes, but the common factor is that the
purposes are all extremely important, and are carried out by chemicals that many people did not know
existed. Pheromones serve many functions even in human beings. While the research isn’t as in depth
as it is in animals yet, we are learning more and more about the roles of pheromones in humans. We
are certain that they play a role in sexual attraction in human beings, hence the extremely popular
pheromone colognes, but research is continuing to uncover how pheromones exactly do that.
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