Why Jerry Loves Tom

Just as the 98-lb weakling who emerges victorious from a scuffle with a bully might have a better shot at getting lucky, a mouse who has tangled with a predator and lived to boast about it appears much more macho–therefore more appealing–to potential mates. According to recent finding by zoologist Zhang Jianxu and his research group, a male mouse is more attractive to female mice if his scent features even the faintest whiff of his archenemy — the common house cat.

Zhang, working with Sun Lixing from Central Washington University and Kevin Bruce and Milos Novotny, both from Indiana University, exposed 48 mice to regular doses of cat urine over a period of two months. Not only did these mice draw a more favorable reaction from female mice than the control groups (which had been exposed to rabbit urine and water), analysis of their own urine showed distinctly elevated levels of alpha and beta farnesenes–the exact chemicals that send female mice swooning.