--- Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jan Coffey wrote: > >--- The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s881312.htm > > > > > > Colour vision means pheromones unnecessary > > > Tuesday, 17 June 2003 <snipped much>
> >Simply becouse one sense is more importatnt than > other doesn't necisarily > >mean that the other does not still play a part. > > > My main thought when I read the article was that if > human females _did_ > have an area of skin which changed color in order to > signal to males that > they were, ahem, "receptive", the fashion and > cosmetics industries would > have long since taken full advantage of the fact... <shudders> Perish that thought! Although I think there *is* something to lipstick as a signaler, otherwise we'd just use neutral chapstick... > (My secondary thought was that cats and dogs have at > least bichromatic > color vision, and they still rely heavily on their > vomeronasal organs for > both reproductive and territorial communication.) Horses are bichromatic as well; stallions perform a peculiar-looking 'curled lip sniff' called flehmen to check 'long distance' for mares in heat, who will then give visual/physical cues to the stallion to show him their interest. [Other animals also 'flehmen:' lions, housecats and goats frex; raising the head and opening the mouth are part of this behavior, which apparently improves the delivery of pheromone chemicals to the VMO, also called Jacobson's organ.] The medical literature is contradictory in this area; I personally think that chemical communication *does* occur among humans, but its role has been diluted by verbal and cultural overlays. Anecdotally, pay attention at the office to when different people are "on" -- others will stop by their cubicle/desk more often, laugh or talk with the "on" person more, etc. It does happen to me, and I think there is a twice-a-month surge - although as I said, it's purely a subjective observation. However, an experiment with cameras etc _could_ be devised to investigate this more objectively. Debbi __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
