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If you get the scent in your nose, you will be completely amazed.
Catnip downright intoxicates the four-legged friends.
They rub their bodies against the herb, roll around in it, roll on toys and anything that
contains
Nepeta cataria
.
Why the plant puts cats in such a euphoric state was not yet clear.
Researchers led by the Japanese University of Iwate have investigated the question and came to the conclusion with their study, which they published in the journal "Science Advances":
Catnip not only has an intoxicating effect on the animals, but also protects them from mosquitoes.
Source: pa / imageBROKER / Verena Scholze
Our feline friends are not only into the real catnip, but also the Asian variant, the Japanese ray pen, also called silver wine or matatabi.
“Silver wine first appeared in Japanese literature as a cat attractant more than 300 years ago.
Folkloric ukiyo-e (
editor's note: a genre of Japanese art
)
drawn in 1859
show a group of mice trying to seduce cats with the smell of silver wine.
However, the benefits of this cat behavior were not known, ”explains the study director, Masao Miyazaki from the University of Iwate, in a press release.
High so high
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The substance
nepetalactone
in catnip causes the intoxicated state of the animals.
In the Japanese radiation pen, the related
nepetalactol
achieves
this effect, as the scientists found out in experiments.
To do this, they put the material on paper and observed the reaction of a total of 17 feral cats and 18 domestic cats: the animals rubbed their bodies on it and rolled over on it.
In addition, her blood endorphin levels increased after contact with nepetalactol.
So the substance actually acts like a drug on the cats.
According to the Japanese researchers, even jaguars, Amur leopards and European lynxes react as euphorically as their little relatives to nepetalactol.
On the left the Japanese ray pen of the species Actinidia polygama and on the right the real catnip
Source: Wikipedia Qwert1234 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / pa / GWI / Rita Coates
The kitties not only appreciate the intoxication, but also the natural benefits of the active ingredients: because they serve as anti-mosquito repellants.
To prove this, the scientists attached strips of paper soaked in nepetalactol to the walls and floor.
The cats rubbed their heads on it and rolled over to spread the substance on their fur.
The researchers then exposed the animals to mosquitoes.
In fact, fewer insects landed on the cats that had previously rubbed themselves with nepetalactol than on those that had not come into contact with the substance.
This not only protects the house tiger from itchy bites, but also from diseases that could be transmitted by the insects.
A question that the researchers are now asking:
Why do only cats react like that?
Why don't other animals also react to the plants?
Masao Miyazaki, Department of Biochemistry and Nutritional Sciences, Iwate University
They now want to answer that with further experiments.
Miyazaki and his colleagues also want to find out whether the two substances can also be used to produce an insect repellent that is effective for humans.
And we would certainly have no objection to a harmless intoxicant in this annoying Corona time.