Humans are lacking where it comes to scents

Bill Quick has been wondering what the world would be like if humans interacted more like dogs. In particular he offers Rachel Lucas’s insight about her dog:

Primo and his friends care only about the language and enjoyment of butt odors.

As a dog owner for almost all of my life, I can certainly confirm that that such language and enjoyment definitely characterizes the canine mindset. But in addition to butt odors, there is the ever-important business of what I call pee mail. Dogs have olfactory capacities that humans couldn’t even dream of having, and from sniffing another dog’s scent, a dog can detect the sex, age, hormonal disposition, and even size of the animal who left it. After a careful evaluation, a decision is made whether or not to leave a “comment” or “reply.” This can in turn generate something analogous to comment threads, with one dog leaving pee mail on top of another dog’s pee mail, and so on. It’s a very complex process which we humans are too insensitive to understand. When Coco meets another dog at a dog park, I can tell whether they have already met in the olfactory (“virtual”) sense, as they recognize each other by scent, even though they never officially met. Hey, from an evolutionary standpoint, it’s probably as a good way to find a beau as any.

Whether it would work for us, I don’t know. We would need some major improvement on our olfactory organs. Next time you take a look at a dog’s head, think about how much of that space is devoted to the nasal passages.

Frankly I’m envious of their ability to perceive things we can only imagine.

True, they are things which most of us wouldn’t want to imagine. But that’s only because we lack the equipment and the imagination.


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2 responses to “Humans are lacking where it comes to scents”

  1. Simon Avatar

    Richard Feynman did some research on the matter and found that humans are pretty good when it comes to scents. However, they – like dogs – have to get their noses in it. Something we are warned against.

    “Don’t stick your nose in someone else’s business”

  2. […] you go” urine-activated internet. That would also promote species equality, because right now only dogs can send and receive pee mail, and what’s fair about […]