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The flehmen response (/ ˈ f l eɪ m ən /; from German flehmen, to bare the upper teeth, and Upper Saxon German flemmen, to look spiteful), also called the flehmen position, flehmen reaction, flehmen grimace, flehming, or flehmening, is a behavior in which an animal curls back its upper lip exposing its front teeth, inhales with the nostrils usually closed, and then often holds this position ...
Tapir showing the flehmen response The proboscis of the tapir is a highly flexible organ, able to move in all directions, allowing the animals to grab foliage that would otherwise be out of reach. Tapirs often exhibit the flehmen response , a posture in which they raise their snouts and show their teeth to detect scents.
A Baird's tapir in a zoo, exhibiting the flehmen response. In Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama, hunting of the Baird's tapirs is illegal, but the laws protecting them are often unenforced. The issues of illegal logging in conserved areas also threaten these animals.
The round, dark ears have distinctive white edges. Newborn tapirs have a dark brown coat, with small white spots and stripes along the body. The South American tapir can attain a body length of 1.8 to 2.5 m (5 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) with a 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) short stubby tail and an average weight around 225 kg (496 lb).
The courting male also often performs a 'foreleg kick', in which he snaps his front leg up against the other male's belly or between his hind legs. He also occasionally sniffs and nuzzles the other male's genital area and may perform the flehmen response. Thinhorn rams additionally lick the penis of the male they are courting.
Semiochemicals are "a substance excreted by an animal, to the outside of that individual, which is then received by another individual, classically of the same species, which then elicits some behavioral or developmental response related to the survival of the species." [25] Many mammals exhibit both odorant and vomeronasal sensitive organs.
Male giraffes assess female fertility by tasting the female's urine to detect oestrus, in a multi-step process known as the flehmen response. [90] [98] Once an oestrous female is detected, the male will attempt to court her. When courting, dominant males will keep subordinate ones at bay. [98]
Okay, this is reading like someone conducted a study and compared the Flehmen rates of females (I assume the rates at which the females made a flehmen response) to each other and found that when the flehmen rate of one female was similar to that of another, it was a strong indicator the two females would give birth around the same time, but ...