The sense of smell of dogs is much more developed than that of humans. They are able to perceive odors through time and wide spaces. Their advanced functioning relies on the structure of their nasal receptor system and the olfactory information processing capacity of their brains.
While humans are "microsmatic" because they have a small olfactory receptor, dogs are "macrosmatic." In this category are also rats and rabbits.
For dogs, smell is a sense of survival, mating, orientation, and defense. This makes their sense of smell not only very useful but 50 times better than that of a human.
Thanks to these abilities, dogs and their noses are used for human benefit. One of the broadest uses is in the aid of investigative work in the police.
They are used by the most developed races in detecting drugs and food, tracking missing persons, searching for survivors in natural disasters and discovering explosives.
The smell of dogs is equivalent to the sense of sight for humans. As it catches the first hints of air, its wet and fluffy snout helps to pick up the scents of the breeze.
They have the ability that each of their nostrils can smell separately. This helps determine the direction of an odor, that is, where its source of emission is located.
With inhalation the dog is able to perceive not only the things that are around him but also his spatial location. Therefore, it is said that they are capable of building an olfactory map of their environment.
Canine nasal system
Inside your nose a fold of tissue divides the air into two distinct sectors. One is dedicated to breathing and the other designed exclusively to smell.
This last zone contains highly specialized olfactory cells. While humans have 5 million odor-sensitive cells, dogs have up to 300 million.
In addition, its muzzle is capable of expelling air, not through the nostrils themselves, but through lateral slits. This helps them attract new scent molecules that build up the scent and make it more intense.
All this that you are able to perceive is even better used and processed in your brain. For this reason, the relative space dedicated to smell is greater in dogs than in humans.
This makes it possible to distinguish and remember scents in concentrations 100 million times lower than what men can detect.
Overdeveloped smell
Through their vomeronasal organ, as the space above the palate is known, dogs can perceive hormones. In addition, the nerve impulses that come from her smell reach the brain directly bypassing the thalamus filter, thus connecting with canine emotion and instinct.
But his sense of smell is also so powerful that he can perceive over time. That is, the olfactory tracks of someone who has already been in a place can be traced by dogs.
They do this through traces of temperature, debris, and locations. It also works into the future. Since they can receive information from far distances, they can "feel" when someone approaches without even seeing them.
References
- How many times is the smell of a dog better than a human? (2013). Recovered from curiosoando.com.
- Canine Encyclopedia. (2011). Recovered from petspfi.com/descargas/perros.pdf
- García Moreno, L. (1992). Memory and Smell: functional interferences. Complutense University of Madrid. Recovered from library.ucm.es
- Horowitz, A. (2017). The incredible world that your dog 'sees' with his nose. Recovered from latam.discovery.com
- Why do dogs have a good sense of smell. Recovered from petsya.com
- Max-Planck Society. (2010). Science emulates smell. Curioso por las Ciencias magazine, number 11. Recovered from tunneleldelaciencia.mincyt.gob.ar.