Perfume Pilgrim

I could smell the pungent aroma, of cough drops and to put it politely, droppings from afar. As I approached the Koala enclosure I was amazed at the rank but fascinating odour of the male Koalas, and bombarded the attendant allowing me to briefly pet a Koala with questions about their smell. The attendant told me the female koalas go wild over the smell. I just got back from a two week visit to Australia and spent as much time as I could spare shopping for Australian made fragrance, though this particular cologne was not on my to buy list, it did arouse my curiosity. The photo of a female koala was taken at Cleland Wild Life Reserve in the Adelaide Hills.

This was their breeding season in Australia, when the sternal gland in the males works overtime to secrete a strong, glistening scent with a musky eucalyptus aroma. Curious about its constituents I researched a little. Of the 600 or so eucalyptus tree species growing in Australia, koalas choose aprox 120 of the species to feast on. Each Koala has its own unique aromatic fingerprint and they use scent marking to define territories and attract mates. They do this by rubbing the gland located on their chest, brown coloured and oozing, against the trunks of trees. To see a short clip of this try this link

The secretion is originally yellow, oily and greasy and to some of us, “yucky.” Their moist dark gland is hairless itself but surrounded by their fur. This scent has attracted the attention of researchers and scientists, who have analysed this koala perfume. According to Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectometry (GC-MS), at least 37 chemicals have been identified with several components remaining mysterious.

The components include the goat smelling, hexionic acid and ascetic acid or vinegar. The funk also includes oily fixatives which are not odiferous but rather only dissipate at extremely high temperatures. This would explain why the odour remains on the trunks even a year after they have been “koala beared!” Further constituents found include volatile fatty acids, aldehydes, ketones, mono and sesquiterpenes, as well as various volatile nitriles and oxines, in addition to benzyl cyanide.  For a more complete list look here at this list of Sternal Gland Secretions Chart.

While most people associate their pungent rank smell with Koalas at a zoo, and are likely to be repulsed, other Koalas typically stop briefly to smell the calling cards, that are combined with urine, at the base of the eucalypti trunks. The attendant did say that when she carries the male Koalas during mating season, the scent remains on her t-shirt. She politely described the aroma as a musky strong eucalyptus… but I did see her face light up when she talked about it.