Hyraceum is less well known and is less often utilised in perfumes than musk, civet, ambergris and castoreum. Raw hyraceum has a very complex, layered, animalic and unique profile. Some say it combines aspects from all of those other animal scents as well as notes of oud and tobacco.

Hyraxes are small mammals native to Africa. They defecate in the same location for generations which leads to a build-up of excrement along cliff sides and mountainous areas. Over thousands of years this excrement petrifies and becomes as hard as rock. It is collected and used in the perfume industry and even more so in traditional medicine. Being excrement, raw hyraceum has faecal and urine like notes but they are not strong enough to be offensive.