Explaining A Dog’s Sense Of Smell
Explaining A Dog’s Sense Of Smell
Dogs have been used successfully for years to track both prey and people. Likewise, dogs have been used to search cars, ships, and airplanes (among other things) for various types of contraband like illegal drugs or explosives. What makes a dog’s sense of smell so exceptional?
Though much is not known about what truly makes an animals sense of smell work, in most mammals cases we know that it is largely based on the amount of smell-sensitive cells contained within the nasal cavity. The amount of smell-sensitive cells possessed by humans is generally regarded to be approximately five million. These cells are spread over an area the size of a postage stamp. By contrast, most breeds of dogs have upwards of 220 million smell-sensitive cells that are spread over an area the size of an 8×10 sheet of paper. Dogs also have a better developed sense of deciphering (and following while tracking) multiple smells at the same time.
Oct 13, 2007 | | About Dogs