Male mice are terrified of bananas.
Male mice are terrified of bananas
Scientists inadvertently made the discovery as they were studying the reaction of male mice to pregnant and lactating female mice.
The experts from McGill University in Canada discovered that hormonal shifts in male mice are triggered by a compound called n-pentyl acetate in females' urine - the same compound that gives bananas their distinctive smell.
Jeffrey Mogill, the study's senior author, said: "The whole thing came as a surprise, since we were not looking for this in particular and found it by accident.
"The pregnant females were in our lab for another experiment, and one of our grad students realised that the males began acting weird."
The team then purchased banana oil extract from a supermarket and placed it inside the cages of male mice and found that their stress levels increased drastically.
The stress response in the mice was found to be similar to the stress response when about to engage in a fight.