I will admit it; at work we are constantly asking each other, “Do you smell that? Truthfully, I am usually the one that asks, “Smell what?” This just happened the other day, so I started wondering about other animals and just how much better they can detect odors than humans.

Snakes do not have much going for them when it comes to the five senses.

Hearing is nonexistent and eyesight is poor. They do possess a highly developed sense of smell to help them hunt, find mates, track their own paths, and avoid predators. Their forked tongues capture scent molecules like tweezers.

When their tongues are inserted in the roof of their mouths the Jacobson’s organs isolate the smells that are important. They can detect prey, predators, and mates from about 50 feet away.

I had no idea that foxes and coyotes possess Jacobson’s organs, too.

Located on the roofs of their mouths just behind their incisors. They do not have the opening like snakes do but rather the scents flow over these organs to detect and decipher all the odors. They will lick the roofs of their mouths to “prep” this organ.

So, while they are gaping or pulling the lips back, it is the sort of same process — just not as obvious as when snakes do it! All those odors are used for communication, territoriality, and mating.

Dogs smell a lot

Behind that cold wet nose are sensitive membranes that allow a dog to distinguish smells at least one thousand times better than humans. Dogs smell more readily, because they have much larger sets of scent membranes within their noses.

While humans have a pair of these “olfactory receptors,” they are about the size of two postage stamps in our noses. Dogs’ receptors can be as large as handkerchiefs. And, just like the coyotes and foxes, they, too, have a Jacobson’s organ located behind their incisors.

With larger olfactory membranes, dogs’ noses do things ours cannot. Researchers at Duke University found that a fox terrier could detect the scent of a fingerprint on a glass slide when compared to four clean slides after three weeks.

When the researchers placed the slides outside in the rain and dust, the dog was still able to pick out the slide with the fingerprint after 24 hours of weathering.

Dogs’ noses work much the way ours do: We inhale molecules of odor, which then dissolve in mucus. These dissolved odors are picked up by the olfactory receptors, located behind the spot where eyeglasses rest. Organs called the olfactory bulbs send those smells straight to the part of our brains that deal with stored feelings and memories. This is one reason smells trigger strong emotions and memories that may have lain dormant for years.

Cats are built differently

Cats have a Jacobson’s organ as well located in the roof of the mouth behind their upper front teeth. It acts as an auxiliary olfactory system, allowing cats to “taste” scents, pheromones, and chemical signals in the air, particularly to analyze territory or identify reproductive status.

Kittens born with eyes and ears closed, use this “tasting” to find their mother’s milk and litter mates.

When we had our two cats, I often wondered what they found so offensive when they were making their “stinky faces.”

I always thought everything offended them because their faces sure looked that way!

Smelling out pollen

Bees rely on scent cues as well. On a warm summer day, bees can catch the fragrance of flowers blooming from over a mile away. They can also smell surroundings 20 times farther than we ever could.

Honeybees alert the hive with directional information during something called a waggle dance. They can alert the colony about distances and types of food sources. The glands on their abdomens release pheromones sending out information about nectar, nest sites, colony members, or potential threats.

The king of scent

Bears have one of the most incredible senses of smell among all land animals. Their sense of smell is estimated to be two thousand times more sensitive than a human’s!

Interestingly, the olfactory bulbs are about five times larger than humans despite bears having brains one-third of the size of humans. And, just like all the other mammals already mentioned, they possess Jacobson’s organs, too.

After one of my husband’s successful hunting trips, he had thoroughly cleaned his truck bed or so he thought. The next morning, he discovered his truck hood had claw marks, one wiper was bent and the other was missing, the door handle on the driver’s side had been pulled off, and there were muddy footprints on the tailgate and in the truck bed!

Studies show black bears will follow females for more than 20 miles. This reminds me of the stories told to me of my husband’s grandfather walking miles while “courting” his future wife!

Ugly bird, big smeller

When asked about which bird at the center is my favorite, it is impossible to say because each bird has a story and a special place in my heart. One teacher was surprised when I said I “like” Turkey Vultures.

I find them fascinating. They won’t win any popularity contests or beauty contests, and Charles Darwin described them as “disgusting birds.” They fend off annoyances by regurgitating their last meals. That is a “neat” adaptation. I often wish I could do that to clear out my office when I am annoyed!

Their Latin name Cathartes aura, means “purifying air.” They are the sanitation crew in the animal world and honestly, they are preferrable to the millions of bacteria or several pounds of maggots that would be needed to break down all the dead animals in our world.

Turkey vultures have open nostrils without septums allowing air to flow through their noses. Studies comparing over 120 species of birds and mammals show that the turkey vultures have larger olfactory bulbs relative to their brain size.

The turkey vultures have olfactory bulbs are four times larger than their close relatives, the black vulture.

Black vultures have a poor sense of smell and rely almost entirely on their keen eyesight to locate food. They follow Turkey vultures to carcasses to steal a free meal. Their beaks are not as sharp as the Turkey vultures, so following them for food makes sense.

Once the Turkey vultures tear through tough skin and carrion more effectively, the Black vultures can take advantage of the free food.

Salty scents

Seabirds have a highly developed sense of smell for finding food and navigating across oceans. Pigeons and bluejays have a sense of smell and create a “scent map” of their surroundings, enabling them to find their way home from unfamiliar locations.

No sense of smell

Songbirds do not have a sense of smell or if they do it is extremely poor. This helps us reunite baby birds that have fallen out of nests, because the parent birds do not have a sense of smell. Growing up, I was told to not touch baby birds, because the parents would not take the baby back. That’s just not true!

I have even put baby birds from a different nest in with a mother bird of the same species with lots of success. She can’t smell and she can’t count!

Jeannie Carl is a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill. For information on the environmental center, visit www.carboneec.org.