Catnip.....

….. I am continually amazed by the data on Wikipedia…… and since I found it a few years ago, it has really led me down some twisty, moss-covered paths…..

…. like tonight, for instance…. .tonight I started checking to find the true reason that one of our cats flips out like John Belushi used to with an 8-ball of coke every time I sprinkle a little catnip on the deck….. and as you do, I clicked, and clicked, and clicked….. and read, read, and read some more….. and in the end?.... it all comes down to pheromones…

….see, catnip messes with a kitty-cat’s olfactory epithelium… not, as you may have guessed instead, through their vomeronasal organ!!..... so, in short, they smell it and it works’em into a frenzy……. but I did click on vomeronasal organ’s entry, too…… and indeed, it is a “somewhat mysterious” organ according to Wikipedia…..

…. snakes use it to “smell” their prey by flicking their tongues to catch molecules and then brushing their tongues against the organ to “taste” where their dinner might be hiding…… Elephants who hold out their trunks and then dip it up and under and into their mouths?..... they’re doing pretty much the same type of thing as the snakes….. tasting the air for random molecules and then letting their organ do its thing……

…. Why do I bring this up after I have already been on a nasal/nostril related jag very recently?...... well, there was one particular paragraph that I found which just totally rocked my world….. here, check this out….

Anatomical studies demonstrate that in humans the vomeronasal organ regresses during fetal development, as is the case with some other mammals, including apes, cetaceans, and some bats. There is no evidence of a neural connection between the organ and the brain in adult humans. Nevertheless, a small pit may be found in the nasal septum of some people, and some researchers have argued that this pit represents a functional vomeronasal organ. Thus, its possible presence in adult humans remains controversial.

…. (Cetaceans are whales, by the way, just in case you were curious…. Yeah, I looked it up)…..

…. But really?.... just think of the implications to humanity… to us as an interacting, civilized & politically correct species…. that there are some folks out there who are on a whole new sensory level than the rest of humanity… and in particular, with their ability to sense and recognize pheromones… those little chemical signals that flag such primal reactions as sexual attraction, food, alarm, territorial boundaries, trails leading home, and a million other things…… it just boggles my mind that there might be humans who – unknowingly – can sense these things as well……

…. it’s like that scene in “Werewolf” where Jack Nicholson goes in into the bathroom and pisses on the guys shoes next to him once he catches a whiff….. taking “Alpha Male” to a whole new level, folks…. Wow… it just blows my mind that some humans might actually be able to subconsciously receive those tiny little details of life….. and what of Michelle Pfeiffer’s character?...... the mind truly boggles….

…. lookit, folks, we’re all animals, sure… and some of us are closer to being barbarians than others….. but having a gland in your head that is completely un-evolved purely to taste the pheromones in the air?..... that is just plain marvelous….

… then again, I might just be eaten up with jealousy….. because, well, I WANT one….