Sweating
In hoofed animals and marsupials, apocrine glands act as the main thermoregulator, secreting watery sweat. For most mammals, however, apocrine sweat glands secrete an oily (and eventually smelly) compound that acts as a pheromone, territorial marker, and warning signal. Being sensitive to adrenaline, apocrine sweat glands are involved in emotional sweating in humans (induced by anxiety, stress, fear, and pain).
In a five-month-old human fetus, apocrine glands are distributed all over the body; after a few weeks, they exist in only restricted areas, including the armpits and external genitalia. They are inactive until stimulated by hormonal changes in puberty.
Read more about this topic: Apocrine Sweat Gland
Famous quotes containing the word sweating:
“By the roadside a hideous carrion, quivering
On a clean bed of pebbly clay,
Her legs flexed in the air like a courtesan,
Burning and sweating venomously,
Calmly exposed its belly, ironic and wan,
Clamorous with foul ecstasy.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“He’d been numb a long time, years. All his nights down Ninsei, his nights with Linda, numb in bed and numb at the cold sweating center of every drug deal. But now he’d found this warm thing, this chip of murder. Meat, some part of him said. It’s the meat talking, ignore it.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)