Temporal glands

Buss, I.O., Rasmussen, L.E. and Smuts, G.L. (1976) The role of stress and individual recognition in the function of the African elephant s temporal gland. Mammalia 40, 437—451. 

Elephants have conspicuous temporal glands that are unique to these animals. They are modified apocrine structures imbedded in the subcutaneous tissue on each side of the head, midway between the eye and the ear. Male elephants experience an annual rut-like period of heightened aggressiveness and elevated... 

Frontalin in the temporal gland secretion of Asian elephants is bound to elephant albumin (Schulte etal, 2005). The bulk of the secretion of the chin gland of the rabbit is protein (Goodrich and Mykytowycz, 1972). 

Asian elephant E/epte maximus Erontalin Temporal gland Rasmussen and Greenwood, 2003... 

The Asian elephant has farnesol, 4-ethylphenol and 4-methylphenol in its temporal gland secretion while the African elephant has only 4-methylphenol. Farnesol levels are inversely related to testosterone levels (Rasmussen and Perrin, 1999). Preovulatory female urine contains (Z)-7-dodecen-l-yl acetate (Rasmussen etal, 1996). 

Even adults can still develop olfactory preferences that contravene those acquired before sexual maturity. Female laboratory mice imprinted by the odor of one mouse strain will prefer this odor even more if they are exposed to males of this strain as adults. However, if they are exposed to males of a different strain when sexually mature, their original odor preference will be reversed (Albonetti and D Udine, 1986). Naturally occurring sex or body odors may assume their sexual significance after association with sexual activity male mice were aroused by a perfume that they had experienced earlier on scented females they had interacted with (Nyby etal., 1978). Practitioners have known that adult mammals can acquire responses after exposure to certain animals. For instance, bulls of the Asian elephant that had been housed near African elephant bulls respond to temporal gland secretion and its three components phenol, 4-methylphenol, and (E)-farnesol from the latter species. Asian bulls thathad not been associated with African bulls did not respond (Rasmussen, 1988). 

Rasmussen, L. E. L. (1988). Chemosensory responses in two species of elephants to constituents of temporal gland secretion and musth unrvt. Journal of Chemical Ecology 14, 1687-1711. 

Rasmussen, L. E., Buss, C. O., Hess, D. L., and Schmidt, M. J. (1984). Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone concentrations in elephant serum and temporal gland secretions. Biology ofReproduction 30,352-362. 

First identified in Asian elephants during a headspace analysis of volatiles collected from secretions of the musth temporal gland of adult males,156 frontalin (52) is a bicyclic ketal, which is structurally reminiscent of the male mouse priming pheromone component 3,4-dehydro-ara-brevicomin (37). Frontalin (52), Z-7-dodecen-l-yl acetate (51), was already known because of its chemosensory role in the insect world it is an aggregation pheromone in bark beetles.157 Interestingly, the ratio of the two enantiomers of frontalin (52) changes with age and stage of musth and elicits different behavioral responses.158... 

The isolated boar ketones, 5a-androst-16-en-3a-ol (androstenol) and androst-16-en-3-one (androstenone) secreted by the sub-maxillary gland, have a direct effect on the sexual receptivity of the sow and are used commercially to assist in artificial insemination (14). The fact that estrus can be determined in the sow by her response to these compounds suggests that there is a heightened acuity for these compounds at the time of ovulation. This is similar to the increase in olfactory acuity for certain compounds noted in human females prior to ovulation (15). A somewhat unique but analogous situation is the elephant temporal gland which is an apocrine gland that is active under stress and possesses an elephanty odor (16). Table III summarizes some of the mammalian communication systems that have been studied and the chemicals which have been found to have behavioral effects. 

The first several musth episodes of young teenage adult males (usually between age 10-18 y in captivity and age 14-19 y in the wild) are characterized by widely fluctuating testosterone levels, sporadic temporal gland secretions that often smell like honey (Rasmussen et al. 2002). Two of the test males were approaching the onset of this moda age. 

Rasmussen, L. E. L., Perrin, T. E., and Ounawardena, R., 1994, Isolation of potential musth-alerting signals from temporal gland secretions of male Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), a new method, Chem. Senses 19(5) 540. 

---