pheromone
any chemical substance released by an animal that serves to influence the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species.
Origin of pheromone
1Other words from pheromone
- pher·o·mo·nal, adjective
Words Nearby pheromone
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pheromone in a sentence
Chemically, the snail’s mimics are actually more stable than the worm’s natural pheromones, which degrade relatively quickly after release, Torres says.
Cone snail venom may trick mate-seeking worms into becoming meals | Jonathan Lambert | March 12, 2021 | Science NewsThis organ detects pheromones produced by others of the same species and then sends cues to the brain to mate, attack or do other things.
Catherine Dulac Finds Brain Circuitry Behind Sex-Specific Behaviors | Claudia Dreifus | December 14, 2020 | Quanta MagazineHumans and other higher primates do not have this organ for sensing pheromones.
Catherine Dulac Finds Brain Circuitry Behind Sex-Specific Behaviors | Claudia Dreifus | December 14, 2020 | Quanta MagazineYou could, for example, do experiments where you deleted a specific gene in the mouse so that it could no longer detect certain pheromones and then you’d look to see how its behavior changed.
Catherine Dulac Finds Brain Circuitry Behind Sex-Specific Behaviors | Claudia Dreifus | December 14, 2020 | Quanta MagazineSurprisingly, without the cues from pheromones, we saw females behaving like males.
Catherine Dulac Finds Brain Circuitry Behind Sex-Specific Behaviors | Claudia Dreifus | December 14, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
I have looked over high-tech dog collars loaded with a behavior-regulating pheromone.
British Dictionary definitions for pheromone
/ (ˈfɛrəˌməʊn) /
a chemical substance, secreted externally by certain animals, such as insects, affecting the behaviour or physiology of other animals of the same species
Origin of pheromone
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for pheromone
[ fĕr′ə-mōn′ ]
A chemical secreted by an animal that influences the behavior or development of other members of the same species. Queen bees, for example, give off a pheromone that prevents other females in the hive from becoming sexually mature, with the result that only the queen bee mates and lays eggs. In many animal species, pheromones are used to establish territory and attract mates.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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