3 ms·

Does the paper really say that humans may be as capable as dogs? That doesn’t sound right.

• mouse_8b 3y ago
  Maybe a little hyperbolic, but I've seen other studies that show humans can differentiate between odors better than dogs. Dogs seem to be great at detecting odors in low concentrations. Once they are detectable by humans, however, it seems we have some pretty good olfactory skills.
  • SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
    Smelling is more than just being able to detect an odor. You also need to be able to understand what that odor is. The capacity to recognize an odor from a certain volume of smell chemicals being tipped off is actually a distinguishing pattern of multiple sclerosis!
• jwestbury 3y ago
  Bill Bryson talked about this in The Body; the tl;dr is that, yes, with the right scent, humans are as capable as dogs when it comes to tracking something down. The study he cited had humans on all fours, nose to the ground, searching out chocolate which had been moved across a field. The unstated bit of this is that humans are probably less good at scent differentiation, which is another factor in olfactory "capability," but not strictly the same as the ability to track a scent (though you could argue that if you're more likely to follow a subtly wrong scent, you're less capable -- something not captured by the studies which have looked at this, I don't think).