Where would we be without our noses? Our sense of smell keeps us from eating that refrigerated week-old casserole with the unusually strong odor. The city gas department adds a rotten egg smell to natural gas so we can tell if there is a leak. Members of the animal world depend on their noses for not only the ability to detect smells but also a myriad of other reasons. Let's examine a few fun facts about some unusual noses in the animal kingdom.
Consider the elephant. An elephant's trunk is not only its nose but also an extension of its upper lip. An elephant can use its "nose" for more than smelling. The thousands of muscles in an elephant's trunk enable the animal to employ it as a strong arm to pick up heavy objects. Some people may have rather large noses but none can do what the elephant does, and that's a fact. The elephant drinks by sucking water partway up his "nose" and pointing the end of it into his mouth. When he raises his head, the water gushes in. Just try to drink with your nose!
One of the most unusual noses in the animal world is that of the giant anteater. The giant anteater's long nose looks like a tapered cylinder and is rigid, not fleshy. Housed in this elongated snout is the almost two foot long sticky tongue, used for scooping ants and termites from their hiding places. You would think that the anteater would snuff a lot of dirt up its nose but the fact is this animal can seal off its nose when in pursuit of underground delicacies. An additional fact about the anteater is that there are no teeth in this animal's combined nose and mouth.
Another animal which shares the anteater's ability to seal off its nostrils from sandstorm debris is the Bactrian camel. The Gobi Desert is home to this two-humped camel. The camel's lungs and nose can also work together to trap any moisture which may be in the desert air, a fact which explains the animal's ability to live in an inhospitable environment.
Some animals have rather poor eyesight or hearing. To compensate, the animal's sense of smell is usually highly developed. A rhinoceros has poor eyesight but excellent senses of hearing and smell. When a rhino hears or smells a frightening or strange noise or odor, it may charge. The animal uses its sense of smell to locate its target and its nose-mounted horn to chase the enemy away.
Star-nosed moles and water shrews have poor eyesight, too. How then can they locate food in water? Researcher Kenneth Catania of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee conducted experiments to find out. He discovered that star-nosed moles and water shrews exhale and inhale air bubbles in rapid succession. The air bubbles breathed in and out of the nose capture scent molecules left by food sources in the water. These animals will follow a trail of scent molecules to the source.
It's a fact that toothed whales like orcas use the blowhole, a flattened nose, as a breathing tube. When the whale dives, it can close its blowhole to prevent water from entering. Researchers have found that these types of whales have no olfactory nerves or lobes in the brain to indicate they can smell anything.
Have you found that your dog strains at the leash until he can sniff each telephone pole, fire hydrant, or fence post in his path during your morning walk? Don't worry. He is just "reading" the morning newspaper, getting the facts about what went on during the evening hours. His nose is so sensitive to smells that he can detect a single drop of blood in a five quart container of water. What is your dog saying when he spends time sniffing a fire hydrant and then marking it with his urine? He is not "talking" to you. He has discovered a strange dog's smell in his territory and is letting the stranger know he is in the area. Should the other dog pass that way again, he will quickly discover via his nose he is not the only animal in the neighborhood.
Researchers are exploring this keen sense of smell to see if man's best friend can be enlisted as an animal companion to patients who suffer from diabetes, heart conditions, migraine headaches, and epileptic seizures. Dogs seem to know ahead of time when a harmful or potentially life-threatening situation is about to occur, as do many animals. Scientists are still trying to figure out whether the dog smells certain changing chemical markers in the patient's body, detects subtle changes in the patient's behavior, or a combination of both. Researchers hope that in time skin and pancreatic cancer can be diagnosed early through the use of a dog's nose.
Comparing these facts about noses in the animal kingdom to what we know about the human nose, our own proboscis is rather limited in its abilities, don't you think?
