Animals and Scent

     Samuel Jackson Holmes, an American zooligist and eugenist, states that the main feature that allows animals to discriminate the sex of their other species is the sense of smell. Each specie has a distinct odor that can be detected by other members of that specie (Holmes, 1916; 219). And this distinction can be detected in different ways. For example, vertebrates identify smell with their noses, whereas insects use their antennas to identify smell (Schaefer & Ruxton, 2011). In many groups of animals, the male olfactory organ is better developed than that of a female. For example the male insects antennas contain a larger olfactory organ than the females.

     In the book "Animals In Translation", Temple Grandin and Catharine Johnson talk about the research that has been done on vision, smell and the relationship between the two. This research is done on the new world animals, which are the more well known animals such as gorillas, baboons, and chimpanzee. Also done in relations to the old world animals are the smaller primates and monkeys (Grandin & Johnson, 2006; 61).

     It is important to keep in mind that certain odors stimulate only a certain group of receptors. These receptors on the other hand recognize odors that are chemically related to them (Schaefer & Ruxton, 2011). In some cases animals can read messages about their owner health by using their sense of smell. Furthermore, animals have an ability to smell fear. This can then be used as a way to communicate and alert other animals within their species (Bogdashina, 2010; 150).

Gorilla 

Baboon

Chimpanzee 

Monkeys  

    The old world primates and humans are known to have a weaker sense of smell, compared to other animals who rely heavily on this sense as a main source for communication. Pheromones are “chemical signals animals emit as a form of communication" (Grandin & Johnson, 2006; 61). For humans and old world primates, our other senses play a key role in order to communicate and navigate through the world. Research has shown that evolution has caused the pheromone system of the old world and humans to break down. This was a result of them not using their sense of smell as much, which gradually resulted in a weak sense of smell and an increase in reliance on eyesight.

   Our blog is aimed to show how pheromones operate as a way for animals to communicate with one another, as well as how their sense of smell operates. And due to the fact that not all animals use smell in the same way, we have broken our discussion down into three groups, insects, land animals, and marine animals, to illustrate how scent is a key component to how they communicate!

By Kelly Peters, Shaudee Farboudmanesh, Meryam Popal, and Cassie Kobrin

Works Cited

Bogdashina, O. (2010). Autism and the edges of the known world: Sensitivities, language, and constructed reality. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Johnson, C., & Grandin, T. (2006). Animals in translation: Using the mysteries of autism to decode animal behavior. Houghton Mifflin 

Holmes, S. (1916). Studies in animal behavior. R. G. Badger.

Schaefer, M., & Ruxton, G.  (2011). Plant-animal communication. Oxford University Press..