Mammals have two nostrils but they aren't really far enough apart for our sense of smell to have much stereo or sense of direction.
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Mammals have two nostrils but they aren't really far enough apart for our sense of smell to have much stereo or sense of direction.
Why aren't nostrils on the side of the head so we could map smell in space more?
Ants do this with their antennae. Like sound, ants sense chemicals as coming from a direction.
I guess having your nose above your mouth (and connected to your mouth) helps with eating. But still seems like a missed opportunity.
@futurebird The reason we have two nostrils isn't about locating. Some smells are sensed better with a quick exposure, others with a slow exposure. That is why one nostril usually is clearer than the other. The slightly blocked nostril is currently on slow exposure duty.
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@futurebird The reason we have two nostrils isn't about locating. Some smells are sensed better with a quick exposure, others with a slow exposure. That is why one nostril usually is clearer than the other. The slightly blocked nostril is currently on slow exposure duty.
So that's NOT just to be annoying??
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Mammals have two nostrils but they aren't really far enough apart for our sense of smell to have much stereo or sense of direction.
Why aren't nostrils on the side of the head so we could map smell in space more?
Ants do this with their antennae. Like sound, ants sense chemicals as coming from a direction.
I guess having your nose above your mouth (and connected to your mouth) helps with eating. But still seems like a missed opportunity.
I spent some time with my sister-in-law's cat and #PicaTheCat has been *studying* my pants and bag with extreme intensity since I came home. It's the next day and she's *still* at it. Her whole body is focused. Like she's reading directions on a tax form.
How much information is she getting? I can't even smell anything there but she is deeply interested in the smell of the "other cat"
I don't think she's being jealous.
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I spent some time with my sister-in-law's cat and #PicaTheCat has been *studying* my pants and bag with extreme intensity since I came home. It's the next day and she's *still* at it. Her whole body is focused. Like she's reading directions on a tax form.
How much information is she getting? I can't even smell anything there but she is deeply interested in the smell of the "other cat"
I don't think she's being jealous.
It's like when I was a teen and my mom would start quizzing me about my friends "where do they live? what kind of shoes do they have? where does their mom work? on and on..."
Only it's just Pica reading the smells of this other cat. Now and then she will look up with her mouth open ... I think to huff the smells more deeply in some cat way.
I tried petting her but she ignored me and kept *smelling*
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Mammals have two nostrils but they aren't really far enough apart for our sense of smell to have much stereo or sense of direction.
Why aren't nostrils on the side of the head so we could map smell in space more?
Ants do this with their antennae. Like sound, ants sense chemicals as coming from a direction.
I guess having your nose above your mouth (and connected to your mouth) helps with eating. But still seems like a missed opportunity.
@futurebird You don't actually need smell receptors to be spaced far apart to get stereo olfaction - dogs and bears have famously excellent directionality in their sense of smell. I don't know anything about the chemistry involved in olfaction itself, but the way it works neurologically is that the brain will register which nostril picks up a scent *first*. Timing is enough for it to work.
That trick doesn't work for animals that smell using a Jacobsen organ (like many reptiles) instead of their nose, so they *do* need more distance between scent "receptors"! And you can see this in how the tongue adapts: Snakes have forked tongues with long tines and excellent directional smell, blue-tongue skinks have cleft tongues and rudimentary directional smell, agamids have a single-tipped tongue and no directional smell at all.
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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It's like when I was a teen and my mom would start quizzing me about my friends "where do they live? what kind of shoes do they have? where does their mom work? on and on..."
Only it's just Pica reading the smells of this other cat. Now and then she will look up with her mouth open ... I think to huff the smells more deeply in some cat way.
I tried petting her but she ignored me and kept *smelling*
@futurebird shoes?
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@futurebird shoes?
My pants seem to be the focus. But in the past she has had some ... concerning ... behavior re: shoes.
She likes to stick her face in them after you take them off.
And then she rolls around with them and it... it's kind of indecent!However Pica does not care.
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Mammals have two nostrils but they aren't really far enough apart for our sense of smell to have much stereo or sense of direction.
Why aren't nostrils on the side of the head so we could map smell in space more?
Ants do this with their antennae. Like sound, ants sense chemicals as coming from a direction.
I guess having your nose above your mouth (and connected to your mouth) helps with eating. But still seems like a missed opportunity.
@futurebird in tetrapods generally it seems rare to have a head that is broad at the front. Nigersaurus and Atopodentatus come to mind, but they're very much the exception. And neither seems to have had the nares especially far apart.
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@futurebird shoes?
Oh you meant my mom asking about shoes. Yeah, that's also strange. She saw something on the news about shoes and gangs or something I think.
"Who is Peter? How old is he? Does he do his homework? What kind of grades does he have?"
How would I know!
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Oh you meant my mom asking about shoes. Yeah, that's also strange. She saw something on the news about shoes and gangs or something I think.
"Who is Peter? How old is he? Does he do his homework? What kind of grades does he have?"
How would I know!
@futurebird I like your mom I think
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@futurebird I like your mom I think
I have come around to liking her. But I think like a lot of people I couldn't stand her when I was a teen/early 20s.
But she has always meant well and mostly DONE well too. She is the most literal person I know though. Like never gets jokes, doesn't see the point of reading fiction, but if you explain something to her *with evidence* she will always change her mind.
This gave me very unrealistic exceptions for other people in my life.
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I have come around to liking her. But I think like a lot of people I couldn't stand her when I was a teen/early 20s.
But she has always meant well and mostly DONE well too. She is the most literal person I know though. Like never gets jokes, doesn't see the point of reading fiction, but if you explain something to her *with evidence* she will always change her mind.
This gave me very unrealistic exceptions for other people in my life.
@futurebird “always meant well and mostly done well” is as much as anyone can expect of a (human) parent. You usually get a combination of gifts and curses. Was she a scientist too?
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@futurebird “always meant well and mostly done well” is as much as anyone can expect of a (human) parent. You usually get a combination of gifts and curses. Was she a scientist too?
Mathematician.
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@futurebird “always meant well and mostly done well” is as much as anyone can expect of a (human) parent. You usually get a combination of gifts and curses. Was she a scientist too?
I have many friends who had parents who ... were not great. So, I'm thankful for that.
I sometimes have student where their parents worry me. Though mostly what I see is good.
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My pants seem to be the focus. But in the past she has had some ... concerning ... behavior re: shoes.
She likes to stick her face in them after you take them off.
And then she rolls around with them and it... it's kind of indecent!However Pica does not care.
@futurebird @mathcolorstrees My #BellaBellissima is obsessed with shoes too. A preference for freshly-worn, but all shoes are hers. She'll stick her head in, but most of her shoe time is her draped over and around them, relaxing.
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@futurebird @mathcolorstrees My #BellaBellissima is obsessed with shoes too. A preference for freshly-worn, but all shoes are hers. She'll stick her head in, but most of her shoe time is her draped over and around them, relaxing.
@raika_amaris @mathcolorstrees
"Stop writhing on my shoe like that." is something I have to say more often than anyone ought to.
It also is pointless to say since she listens can tell I'm displeased but not why and just keeps ruining the shoe area.
