Wouldn't it be likely that smell has something to do with why animals don't treat robots as animals? After all, lots of animals use scent to some degree to help

Wouldn't it be likely that smell has something to do with why animals don't treat robots as animals? After all, lots of animals use scent to some degree to help identify each other. A robot won't smell like anything they recognise - either friend or foe - so they would likely ignore it.