Böttiger reflex

Böttiger reflex is a type of reflex that determines the presence of skin in the area of ​​contact between a human hand and an animal. The term was coined by Emil Charles Boettiger in 1874. In experiments on monkeys, the following law was discovered: the tougher the skin of a person or animal, the greater the effect that occurs when it comes into contact. If there are several species of animals, then each of them has its own threshold of minimum “rigidity”. The tougher the skin covering of animals, the less “smell” it must have for the Böttiger reflex to occur.

Some monkeys smell only where the hard skin touches, even if the skin of a soft male touches the less hard skin of a female. Does this mean that their behavior is dominated by differences in sexual characteristics, and not differences between the sexes, or, on the contrary, self-castration only helps the male to recognize his sexual characteristics? It is necessary to find out how the male’s perception of odor depends on his age and age suitability.