Male mice shed tears to keep their eyes from drying out. As they groom themselves, the tears—and the pheromone—get spread around their bodies and nests.
When female mice come in contact with a male or his nest, they pick up the pheromone via a nose organ called the vomeronasal, where the pheromone binds to a specific protein receptor.
"She has to touch it, because this is not a volatile compound like a fragrance," Touhara said, referring to the ease with which some chemicals turn into vapor.
Upon contact, the pheromone is sent to sex-specific regions in the female's brain. The female mouse is then three times more likely to engage in what's called lordosis behavior, a posture shown by many animals in heat in which they thrust their rumps and tails upward.
Humans don't have the gene code for the chemical or its receptor, so crying isn't an automatic aphrodisiac. Link -via Holy Kaw!
(Image credit: Joel Sartore, National Geographic)