tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post5455075179051244992..comments2023-10-02T06:48:09.872-07:00Comments on Did a Cat Shit in Here?: What the ...Ken Chiacchiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04626815789187013583noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-27271073429509278032008-12-15T08:02:00.000-08:002008-12-15T08:02:00.000-08:00smartdogs:The hypersensitivity that they're talkni...smartdogs:<BR/><BR/>The hypersensitivity that they're talkning about comes and goes on a timescale much longer than you're talking about. What you may be experiencing is a consequence of the fact that turbulence doesn't simply dilute scent, it breaks it up into long, thin filaments of surprising intensity.<BR/><BR/>Because of <I>this</I>, the smell of relatively distant objects can hit us with amazing power, then just as quickly vanish. One of the challenges of using search dogs in high-convective conditions (think low wind, high sun, no clouds) is deciding how to follow up when the dog clearly gets the scent and then seems to lose it. That scent source may be much farther away -- and so much harder to localize -- than we think!Ken Chiacchiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626815789187013583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-9414374033368877892008-12-11T14:42:00.000-08:002008-12-11T14:42:00.000-08:00So is that hypersensitivity a 'comes and goes' kin...So is that hypersensitivity a 'comes and goes' kind of thing? I ask because every now and then I either begin to hallucinate or become hypersensitive. On a hike with the dogs one day this summer there were several times that I smelled things along the empty trail that just amazed me. Leather, horse sweat, human sweat, cigarette smoke - and a ham sandwich (Audie seemed to pick that one up too and sniffed around the area possibly looking for dropped bits). I didn't see anyone else on the trail and I could see back down to both trails and trailheads from the hilltop observation post we hiked to - so there was a bit of age to these scents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-59388287186832486572008-12-11T07:15:00.000-08:002008-12-11T07:15:00.000-08:00Actually there's evidence we have a vomeronasal se...Actually there's evidence we have a vomeronasal <I>sense</I> without necessarily having a vomeronasal <I>organ</I>. You're right, very few anatomists can find such a structure -- though some claim to have found what may be a vestigial one -- and we completely lack the electrical wiring.<BR/><BR/>But in fact the distinction beteen the vomeronasal and olfactory senses isn't clear-cut -- species with VNOs tend to have olfactory-like receptors in those organs, and they tend to have vomeronasal-like receptors in their olfactory epithelia. While humans have no VNO, we do have proteins that look suspiciously like pheromone receptors in our noses.<BR/><BR/>So it's a stay-tuned on that, but I think there's reason to believe we do have this sense.Ken Chiacchiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626815789187013583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-21396115844713987102008-12-03T05:30:00.000-08:002008-12-03T05:30:00.000-08:00I didn't think humans had a Jacobsen's vomeronasal...I didn't think humans <I>had</I> a Jacobsen's vomeronasal organ. It would be interesting if it turns out we do. I remember a few years ago they located a muscle in the face that had defied being noticed through 300 years of autopsies. Surprises are everywhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com