No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

During my research on the energy cost to the individual of pregnancy and menstruation, evidence emerged suggesting patterned animal response to human menstrual odor. Experimental, historical, and mythological evidence indicates that animals respond markedly to human menstrual odor and that their responses might be grouped tentatively into two classes. It appears that omnivores or carnivores, who are themselves hunters, and most strikingly bears, exhibit aggressive curiosity and a tendency to attack, whereas hunted herbivores, especially ungulates such as deer, seem to exhibit inquisitive avoidance. More research is necessary, but proof of such a division in nonhuman animal responses to menstrual odor might help clarify anthropological understanding of menstrual taboos, bear ceremonialism, and women's exclusion from most hunting activities.The bear indications are relatively well documented in the literature but need to be verified experimentally. Landes (1968Landes ( , 1971) collected a number of stories about bears, women, and bear attacks. Similar contemporary reports of bear attacks on women have been made by naturalists within the National Park Service (Cole

No abstract