Okay, so what’s up with these ridiculous faces? The Flehmen response! Or as zookeepers say, the “stinky face.”
The reason animals do this is to facilitate diffusion of pheromones into their vomeronasal organ, or the Jacobson’s organ. This organ is a chemoreceptor that is a part of the accessory olfactory system. It is vestigial in humans, but in many mammals it is essential for detecting pheromoes and plays a large role in reproductive synchrony. It may be called the “stinky face,” but these guys really like what they’re smelling!
imagine if we do this when when we smell something really awesome..
