For many cats, a mere whiff of catnip can ship them right into a licking, rolling, plant-shredding frenzy.
That destruction amplifies catnip’s pure defenses towards bugs and its enchantment to cats, a brand new chemical evaluation finds. Compared with intact leaves, crushed-up leaves emit extra unstable compounds known as iridoids, which act as an insect repellant, researchers report June 14 in iScience. The increased emissions additionally appear to encourage cats to proceed rolling round within the stays of the plant, successfully coating themselves in a pure bug spray (SN: 3/4/21).
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Masao Miyazaki, a biologist at Iwate University in Morioka, Japan, and his colleagues analyzed the chemistry of each catnip (Nepeta cataria) and silver vine (Actinidia polygama), a plant frequent in Asia that has an identical euphoric impact on cats. Both vegetation naturally produce iridoids, which discourage bugs from snacking on leaves.
As cats toyed with silver vine, the broken leaves launched about 10 occasions extra iridoids than intact leaves did, and likewise modified the proportion of the chemical compounds launched. The researchers additionally discovered that catnip when crushed up launched over 20 occasions extra of its insect repellant, largely a sort of iridoid known as nepetalactone.
With each vegetation, lab-made iridoid cocktails mimicking these of broken catnip and silver vine chased off extra mosquitoes than chemical options that mirrored these of intact leaves, the examine discovered.
The group additionally offered cats with two dishes — one with intact silver vine and one with broken leaves. Without fail, the cats would go to the broken leaf container and lick and play with the dish and roll towards it.