submitted 2015-02-13 18:54:58 by furvert_tailEquine, large canid
[deleted] 1 point on 2015-02-13 19:53:04
So true, But is their sense of small stronger then horses? If so by how much.
Equine_Aficionado 2 points on 2015-02-14 06:11:33
This implies a lot about dogs' brainpower, too. Making sense of all that olfactory information takes a lot of intelligence. Just smelling all the odors in an area isn't good enough - a dog also needs to be able to compare the relative qualities and intensities of the odors, and use that comparison to both identify which animals produced the odors and infer the most likely past actions of those animals. That's impressive.
KynophileDog Lover 3 points on 2015-02-14 18:06:18
I love how strong a dog's sense of smell is. It's so impressive to me. To quote Richard Dawkins (a well known zoologist before his forays into public debate on atheism):
Dogs can distinguish two very similar fatty acids, extremely diluted: caprylic acid and caproic acid. The only difference, you see, is that one has an extra pair of carbon atoms in the chain.
He then goes on to argue that maybe dogs smell in a sort of color based on molecule size. But even without that, being able to tell the difference between these two is awesome.
/r/zoophilia archive
So true, But is their sense of small stronger then horses? If so by how much.
This implies a lot about dogs' brainpower, too. Making sense of all that olfactory information takes a lot of intelligence. Just smelling all the odors in an area isn't good enough - a dog also needs to be able to compare the relative qualities and intensities of the odors, and use that comparison to both identify which animals produced the odors and infer the most likely past actions of those animals. That's impressive.
I love how strong a dog's sense of smell is. It's so impressive to me. To quote Richard Dawkins (a well known zoologist before his forays into public debate on atheism):
He then goes on to argue that maybe dogs smell in a sort of color based on molecule size. But even without that, being able to tell the difference between these two is awesome.