Beaver castoreum

Beaver castoreum from commercial source, sold as beaver castor or quiU ... 

Carefully walk around a pond, especially near lodge and dam. Look for scent mounds. These are little piles of mud at the water s edge that smell more or less strongly like beaver castoreum, depending on the time since marking. 

In the afternoon or early evening before the beavers emerge from their lodge, build a scent mound from mud, scooped up from the pond, just as the beavers do. Use a little garden trowel, or in a pinch, a plastic tub. Wear rubber or plastic gloves to avoid contamination with human scent. About 1 1 of mud suffices. Place the scent sample on top of the scent mound. If you use commercial, dried, and ground beaver castoreum, sprinkle a teaspoon full over the mud. For dissolved scent samples, place a large cork or bottle cap on scent mound. 

At the level of chemical compounds, one compound may substitute for another, and the activity still remains the same. Different numbers and types of compounds in a single secretion may have the same effect. The puberty delay pheromone in female mice and the castoreum of beaver are examples. In the mouse, of six adrenal-dependent compounds, two acetates are active together, one pyrazine by itself, and all three together with no increase in activity (Novotny et al.). In beaver castoreum, a mixture of 12 neutrals (monoterpenes) released the same activity as 14 phenolics (Schulte et al. 1994). A third example is the combination of androstenol and androstenone that form the boar pheromone in the male pig s saliva. Both induce the sow s mating stance alone and in combination (Melrose et al., 1971). 

Animal responses to artificial scent marks created by the investigator also can be monitored. Svendsen and Huntsman (1988) treated mounds of mud and debris along a stream with fractions of beaver castoreum. Only beavers that swam within 10 m of these mounds were included in the study. Stimuli were considered active if a beaver made a detectable change in direction or altered its behavior in relation to it. A similar approach has been used to assess woodchuck responses to oral-gland scents (Meier 1991). Scents were applied to cotton balls affixed to stakes near the entrance of an occupied burrow. 

Svendsen, G.E. W.D. Huntsman. 1988. A field bioassay of beaver castoreum and some of its components. Am. Midi. Natural. 120 144-149. 

Biber, m. beaver, -geil, n, castor, castoreum. -geilkampher, m, castorin. -nell, -nelle, /. burnet saxifrage (Pimptnella saxifraga). -schwanz, m. flat roofing tile. 

Until recently, most of the chemical research on the contents of these structures was directed at the identification of the constituents of castoreum. In the late 1940s Lederer [72, 73] identified 36 compounds and some other incompletely characterized constituents in castoreum of uncertain origin. Other constituents were subsequently identified in the material [74-77]. In a reinvestigation aimed specifically at the phenol content of the material, Tang et al [69] identified 10 previously unreported phenols in the castoreum from the North American beaver, Castor canadensis. Of the 15 phenols reported elsewhere, only five were confirmed in this analysis, in addition to 10 phenolic compounds that were not reported elsewhere. It was concluded that the 10 previously identified phenols that were not found in the study by Tang et al. were either absent or were not volatile enough to be detected by the methods employed. This was most probably because a relatively low maximum column temperature of only 210 °C was employed in the GC-MS analyses. The compounds identified by Lederer,... 

Recently, Rosell and Sundsdal [78] tentatively identified 21 of the 43 constituents present in 96 scent marks deposited directly on snow or ice mounds by the Eurasian beaver, C. fiber. In this study, a higher final oven temperature was employed and several steroids were eluted from the capillary column. Because the main focus of this study was to determine whether the beaver uses castoreum and/or anal gland secretion for scent marking and not the full chem-... 

The differences between castoreum from different species and sources still need to be investigated. As suggested by Tang et al [69] it is quite likely that these differences could be diet related because the phenols are most likely derived from the diet of these animals. Indeed, already in 1949 Lederer [73] recognized this possibility and pointed out that 2, 3"-dihydroxydibenz-2-pyrone and 4,4 -dihydroxydiphenic acid dilactone 12 (Fig. 3) are closely related to ellagic acid, which is abundant in the bark of trees. A comprehensive chemical analysis of the polyphenols present in the preferred diet of the beavers and a comparison of these compounds with the phenols present in castoreum from animals fed exclusively on this diet could shed some light on this unresolved problem. 

It is less likely that beavers will colonize unoccupied beaver sites if these sites are artificially scented with castoreum and anal scent secretion (Welsh and Muller-Schwarze, 1989). 

Beaver Castor fiber Eeces, urine, castoreum, AGS Rosell andNolet, 1997... 

If artificial castoreum scent marks are placed on the banks of a pond, beavers, C. canadensis, are more likely to visit, destroy, and re-mark the sites as the complexity of the artificial odor composition increases (Fig. 6.14). While some single phenolics from castoreum such as 4-ethylphenol trigger marking (Miiller-Schwarze and Houlihan, 1991), the response increases as the mixture grows to 4, 6,10,13, and finally 15 compounds. A mixture of 14 phenolics and 12 neutrals (mostly oxygenated monoterpenes) released responses almost as strong as whole castoreum (Schulte etal., 1995). 

Castoreum of beaver (Castor canadensis) function, chemistry and biological activity of its components. In Chemical Signals in Vertebrates, vol. 6, ed. R. L. Doty, and D. Muller-Schwarze, pp. 457-464. New York Plenum. 

Muller-Schwarze, D. and Houlihan, D. (1991). Pheromonal activity of single castoreum constituents in beaver. Castor canadensis. Journal of Chemical Ecology 17, 715-734. 

Castoreum p-methoxyphaiol, p-ethylphaiol, acetophencme, and l -benzenediol/armnatics and d radation products oily cream found in the sac of beavers Castor spp., Mamm. /fixative in all perfiunes, particularly leather, amber, and re perfumes Magie Noire (LancSme), Em ude (Coty), and Arpfege (Lanvin)... 

Castoreum is an unpleasantly sharp-smelling, oily substance secreted by special glands of beavers. Castor fiber L. (Castoridae), living in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. Both sexes secrete the substance, which accumulates in an abdominal pouch, also called castoreum. Dilute castoreum (e.g., as a tincture in ethanol) smells pleasantly of birch tar and musk and is slightly fruity. 

Castoreum is a byproduct of the fur industry. The beaver pouches are dried in the air or over a wood fire, the color of their contents then changes from yellow to dark brown, and the consistency from a butter-like to resinous character. 

The intense, for the Siberian beaver leathery, odor of castoreum is caused largely by phenolic compounds (e.g., 4-alkylphenols and catechol derivatives [256]), which beavers take in with their food and excrete into their abdominal pouch. Castoreum was used mainly in fine fragrances for its characteristic, long-lasting odor, particularly for delicate leather nuances. FCT 1973 (11) p. 1061 [8023-83-4], [92704-04-6], [92704-05-7]. 

Castoreum or caster is a strongly scented creamy fluid derived from the genitals of male beavers. This name is also applied to similar materials taken from otters and muskrats. These fluids are used by the animals to mark their territories and to attract females. They are reputed to have the same effects on other species, notably humans, when incorporated into perfumes or creams. Castoreum perfume is produced by placing the entire gland into alcohol. 

At the final stage the prescribed quantities of 55 herbs previously prepared by various processes, along with the prescribed quantity of squill and viper flesh powder (48 drachms), were added to hedychium, long pepper and poppy juice (all at 24 drachms) eight herbs including cinnamon and opobalsam (all at 12 drachms) 18 herbs including myrrh, black and white pepper and turpentine resin (at 6 drachms) 22 others and then Lemnian earth and roasted copper (at 4 drachms each) bitumen and castoreum (the secretion of beaver) 150 drachms of honey and 80 drachms of vetch meal. 

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