Boar taint smells like urine and excrement

Boar taint is an olfactory defect caused by the accumulation of androstenone and skatole in the adipose tissues of male pigs. Androstenone functions as a testicular pheromone that smells like sweat and ammonia, while skatole comes from the bacterial degradation of intestinal proteins and gives off an odor of feces or naphthalene. Testicular steroids blocking the degradation of skatole in the liver, this molecule accumulates preferentially in the fat of entire pigs.