Hyrax is a small herbivorous mammal (2-5 kg) native to Africa. They resemble large pikas, marmots, or maybe even prairie dogs, but weirdly they are more closely related to elephants! They are a very old species with fossils dating back up to 40 million years (with some of them being much larger, closer to a horse). Contrary to most rodents and similar mammals, hyraxes do not build dens, but seek shelter in nooks and crannies between rocks.
You might know them from cute or funny memes and videos, but they are actually very important for perfumery too. With regulatory bodies banning most compounds derived from animals, especially those which require the animal to be killed, only a few real animalic notes remain, one of them being hyraceum or hyrax!
Throughout history, animalic notes were very popular in perfumery as people sought to mimic their sensual character and warm essence. Some animalic notes were made from glands and other parts of the animals (requiring the animal to be killed), but some, like hyraceum or ambergris, used animal excrement. The hyrax raw material is actually the petrified rock-like excrement formed from the urine of the hyrax. It also contains pheromones, which add to its pungent odor. Before becoming interesting to perfume makers, hyraceum was used by African tribesmen and in the Middle East as a traditional remedy for a variety of medical issues.
In case natural hyraceum is used in a perfume today, it is made from hundreds of years old fossilized excrement, which gives the perfume an animalistic, complex, and sensual note. Hyraceum smells like a combination of animalic notes - musks, civet, castoreum - with tobacco and oud. The raw material is processed by powdering the stones and fusing it with alcohol to release the desired aromas.
Hyracium is also often substituted in perfumes with synthetic notes like indoles found in jasmine, paracresol (a compound naturally found in urine, feces, and sweat of many animals), civetone (synthetic version of animalic note made from the civet cat), or skatole (a compound from the indole family, also found in animal feces). It can also be substituted with natural musky notes, such as those made from ambrette seeds, or dirty notes made from cumin, costus, cistus labdanum, sage, atlas cedar, hyssop, osmanthus, leather notes, etc.
This note is the star of the Zoologist fragrance called Hyrax, while it plays a supporting role in many modern fragrances like Masque Milano - Montecristo, Papillon Artisan Perfumes - Salome, Bortnikoff - Triad, Mendittorosa - Rituale, Eris - Mxxx, etc. Have you tried one of these perfumes? Do you have a favorite fragrance that features hyrax as a note? Let us know in the comments!