Enticing Jaguars to come to locations in Nicaragua where Biologist Miguel Ordenana is researching the big cat is done by baiting camera traps with CALVIN KLEIN'S OBSESSION FOR MEN COLOGNE............The Cologne contains Civetone which is a compound derived from the scent glands of Civets, a nocturnal dwelling cat native to Asia and Africa.................Apparently, the Civetone causes the Jaguars to feel that another cat has scent marked the area around the carmera traps, and this compels the Jaguars to come looking for the "intruder"

You'll Never Guess How Biologists Lure
 Jaguars
 To Camera Traps
By Jason G. Goldman
;blogsscientificamerican.com

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Field biologists are increasingly turning to
 camera traps to collect data.
 The set-up is really simple: when an animal 
passes in front of a camera, 
an infrared sensor becomes activated, and 
the camera silently snaps a
photo. Sometimes – especially for camera
 traps designed to detect
nocturnal species – an infrared flash, 
invisible to most mammals and
 birds, is used.

Camera traps are also far less invasive
 than most other forms of wildlife 
data collection, since critters don't need
 to be trapped and released. And
 their presence is far less stressful for 
most animals compared with human 
observation.

Take the jaguar. The third largest cat
 in the world after tigers and lions,
jaguars (Panthera onca) are nocturnal,
solitary cats. Females' territories
 can range from twenty-five to forty
square kilometers, and males can
roam areas twice as large. Due to
primarily to habitat loss and to conflict
 with farmers, jaguar populations are
declining; they're considered "near
threatened" by the IUCN. Oh, and
 a mature jaguar's jaws are capable of
biting down with two thousand pounds
 of force, the strongest of any cat.
 It subdues its prey in an ambush attack
 by biting down on the skull, its
 massive teeth puncturing the brain
 adjacent to each ear.

Put together, this makes jaguars well
suited for for camera trap research.
 Still, human observers can do things
 like change the direction they're
looking. Cameras generally can't. So
 biologists like Miguel Ordeñana try
 to hedge their bets and optimize the
 probability that an animal of interest
 will come by and trigger the camera's
 shutter.

Ordeñana is a biologist with the Natural
 History Museum of Los Angeles.
 He's an expert on camera traps, and when
 he's not using them to
understand the mountain lions who make
 their homes in the mountains
 of Los Angeles, he conducts field research
on jaguars in Nicaragua.

According to Ordeñana, a Bronx Zoo
 researcher once tried a bunch of 
different scents and discovered that
 jaguars
 really liked the Calvin Klein
 cologne. A researcher might spray 
some of the cologne on a tree branch 
that sits within the camera's field of 
view.And the best way to convince a
 jaguar to trigger a camera trap? Calvin
 Klein Obsession for Men. Seriously.

What's so special about this particular
 scent mixture? "It has civetone and
it has vanilla extract," he says. Civetone
 is a chemical compound derived
from the scent glands of civets, smallish
nocturnal cats native to the Asian
 and African tropics, and it's one of the
 world's oldest perfume ingredients.
"What we think is that the civetone
 resembles some sort of territorial
marking to the jaguar, and so it responds
 by rubbing its own scent on it,"
he explained to me. And the vanilla might
 set off the cats' curiosity
response. No matter which compound
 is responsible for jaguars'
interest – or both – the key is that the
 scent gets them to stick around
 long enough to activate the camera's
shutter.

Still, you probably wouldn't want to 
wear the cologne and then take
 a nap, alone, at night, in the jungle. 
Then again, you probably
 wouldn't want to do that anyway.I
asked Miguel if he avoids
wearing Calvin Klein Obsession for
 Men while doing field work
 in Nicaragua. "I don't really care,
because the chances of me
running into a jaguar are so slim."
 Which, after all, is why he
uses the camera traps in the first place.

Update: It's worth pointing out that most modern perfume makers use synthetic versions of civetone, extracted from palm oil, so that they don't have to harass actual civets…

About the Author: Dr. Jason G. Goldman
received his Ph.D. in
 Developmental Psychology at the University
 of Southern California,
 where he studied the evolutionary and developmental
 origins of the
 mind in humans and non-human animals. Jason is also
 an editor at ScienceSeeker
 and Editor of Open Lab 2010. He lives in Los Angeles,
CA. Follow onGoogle+.
 Follow on Twitter @jgold85.