Appellents

(from the Latin appeliens, “guiding”), lures or means for attracting animals. The opposite of repellents. In their nature, “appellents” can be chemical substances that affect the organs of olfaction or taste (attractants or telergons); visual images (the shape of the body or its parts, color, pose, or gestures); sounds of varying frequency, amplitude, and complexity; electrical (discharges, a field) and mechanical phenomena. Appellents are used by animals to communicate within families, by males to locate females, and in flocks and herds of individuals of one or different species. Appellents serve as a means for propagation and coordinated behavior. Artificial appellents have long been used by man (lures for game; decoys and cutouts of birds; food, smell, light, sound, and other kinds of attractants for birds, wild animals, and fish). For combating harmful animals in commercial fishing and hunting new chemical, optical, acoustical, and electrical appellents are being developed for the purpose of controlling the behavior of masses of wild animals (insects, fish, birds, and game).