Ill-Fated Fauna Poor little Bambi. For centuries, the source for musk was the musk deer—a small, shy in habitant of China's western forests. Weighing only 10 kilograms at maturity, the male musk deer possesses an abdominal sac that secretes a pheromone that makes the does go nuts! Hunters went nuts, too, indiscriminately killing this poor animal, and then removing the sac, drying it out and selling it as a aphrodisiac. Imagine, poor little Bambi slaughtered for our vanity! Although most perfumers now synthesize the scent (the first synthetic musk was created in 1888), the natural musk is still collected from farm-reared animals in China. (Somehow Jolique thinks PETA supporters will find little comfort in this.) According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, only 100,000 of these cute little critters remain. |
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Above: The ill-fated musk deer, and his equally coveted crony, the civet cat (below). (1,2)
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Shamu hasn't had such an easy life, either. For centuries, the sperm whale was the ambergris (also known as "amber") source for both perfumers and jewelers. Ambergris, which comes from the French phrase, ambre gris, meaning gray amber, was thought to possess aphrodisiac qualities. The substance is created by the sperm whale, which enjoys a diet of cuttlefish, a type of squid. These cuttlefish possess a sharp bone known as the cuttlebone—a nasty little thing that pokes the stomach lining of the whale. Rather than giving up this delicious creature for less piquant delights, the whale secretes ambergris to protect the lining of its stomach. This gray, waxy substance may occasionally be found on seashores, or caught in fishermen's nets on the Indian Ocean. From a perfuming standpoint, it possesses both a sweet odor and has an excellent "fixative" quality, meaning it has the ability to allow a perfume's essential oils to remain longer on the body. Prohibitively expensive (nearly $60,000 a kilogram!) and politically incendiary, most perfumers now synthetically replicate this scent. |
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the perfume trade has been the civet cat.
Like the musk deer and the sperm whale, it is no longer killed for
its precious substances, though it was for centuries. Almost worse
than killing, however is the painful extraction process this poor
kitty cat must endure: first it is pinned down and then the perineal
gland at the base of its tail is scraped of its coveted musk. The
civet cat hails mainly from Ethiopia; both the male and female of
this species secrete a fatty substance, which in large doses has a
disgusting fecal odor (c'est dégueulasse ça!), but in very
minute quantities, impedes a warm, sexy scent. Like ambergris, it
also has strong fixative qualities. Most perfumers now use synthetic
versions of civet, though Chanel admits to having used natural civet
in the past. Le pauvre petit chat!
Another animal source is castoreum, which comes from Russian and Canadian beavers. Castoreum collects in the abdominal sacs of males and females and is also a strong fixative. The fixative qualities found in musk, ambergris, civet and castoreum are due to the high molecular weight of these substances. This high weight is what impedes the loss of molecules to the air, making the essential oils less volatile. For this reason, these types of essential oils are often found as the bottom notes (les notes de base) in perfumes—they can last for hours and hours. |
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