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Excellent review....Many diseases are diagnosed based on changes in levels of various chemicals/enzymes in the blood (also seen in sweat). That's what the dogs sense, and wolves in the wild may use that to pick out the easier victims.
Olfactory senses are hugely important in all other mammal species in the mating urge...Why should H.Sapiens be any different (give us a break here, Crerationists, and go along with the gag)?
I have a question for you. Something that crosses my mind many times. Our cat is 15 years old and has never had a bath or brushed her teeth (a few vet dental cleanings here and there). If a human did this for 15 years, they would be so skanky you would have to isolate them miles away from any living being and seal them up in some container to hide the now deadly and indescribable scent.
QUESTION for guido: So if humans evolved like animals did, why this?
My theory - I am a creationist, so I think when man sinned, not only did death and decay come into the picture but he now stinks to high heaven if a day passes by when he doesn't clean himself up.
I share your mystery. I never give my ferret a bath, and despite our 6-8 block walks every night, he smells the same, except when he crawls into a Lavender or Lantana Bush or some women, wearing cologne, pick him up on 4th Avenue or DT, for a selfie, and he then smells of cologne afterwards, but it all dissipates rather quickly, the smell.
I've lived in this mobile home for almost 5 years now, and my Mexican roommate has never used the shower or tub yet, despite working hard all day in the heat and cold, he just does cat baths every morning, and I never sense any strong smell coming from him, and he never uses cologne either.
I have a question for you. Something that crosses my mind many times. Our cat is 15 years old and has never had a bath or brushed her teeth (a few vet dental cleanings here and there). If a human did this for 15 years, they would be so skanky you would have to isolate them miles away from any living being and seal them up in some container to hide the now deadly and indescribable scent.
QUESTION for guido: So if humans evolved like animals did, why this?
My theory - I am a creationist, so I think when man sinned, not only did death and decay come into the picture but he now stinks to high heaven if a day passes by when he doesn't clean himself up.
That's my 2 cents.
This reminds me of something I read in National Geographic years and years ago (so my details are sketchy).
Some white people were visiting an African tribe. Everyone was trying to be polite, but the Africans thought the white folks were smelly, and the white folks thought the Africans were smelly. The white folks were used to cleaning themselves with soap and water, and smelling like soap. To them (us) that was 'clean' smelling.
The tribe was used to their own scent, and didn't think of themselves as smelling 'bad'. They all smelled the same, and that was normal to them.
But to both groups, the 'other' was off putting to them.
Many conditions are improved or worsened simply by being in close contact with others. Imo, it's not a stretch that pheromone therapy can be used to treat a wide variety of issues (think menstrual/sexual dysregulation, loneliness, grief).
I have a question for you. Something that crosses my mind many times. Our cat is 15 years old and has never had a bath or brushed her teeth (a few vet dental cleanings here and there). If a human did this for 15 years, they would be so skanky you would have to isolate them miles away from any living being and seal them up in some container to hide the now deadly and indescribable scent.
QUESTION for guido: So if humans evolved like animals did, why this?
My theory - I am a creationist, so I think when man sinned, not only did death and decay come into the picture but he now stinks to high heaven if a day passes by when he doesn't clean himself up.
That's my 2 cents.
This doesn't require much of a stretch. Your cat (just like the vast majority of species that never developed opposable thumbs) grooms/cleans itself using its tongue. Most likely, YOU do not. Even if you wanted to you can't reach your smellier parts with your tongue anyway.
Granted, it doesn't brush its teeth, but a cat in the wild ate food that contained more abrasive bits; bone, connective tissue, gristle, hair, skin, that helped scrape plaque and bits of food off their teeth. Also remember a non-domesticated cat simply didn't live as long as a pampered house pet. Their teeth wore out or were lost to decay at much younger ages. If enough of their teeth were lost the animal died of starvation or succumbed to a predator because it was weak from malnutrition. Those individuals blessed with tougher teeth tended to survive to produce more offspring over a longer life...which in turn allowed that trait to be passed to more generations.
For many species, less detectable body odor is an advantage...if you are a predator, not giving your presence away to prey helped you be a more successful hunter. An interesting example to think about: the Australian Cattle Dog. The breed is known for its lack of doggy odor. They really don't smell like most dogs. One of the founding canines of the breed is the dingo, a wild predator not too many generations back. Of course, humans, not Nature manipulated dingos in order to produce the ACD but the trait went along with other traits Australian cattle producers wanted in a stock dog. OTOH, consider the Labrador retriever, Lab "stink" is notorious. Humans manipulated the founders of the breed for a water resistant coat...its oily, so it smells.
By the same logic, if you are a prey animal, not attracting the attention of a predator was a survival advantage.
Also consider that the scent many animals give off isn't a constant. Its seasonal or a defense. They may only be smellier when they're trying to attract a mate, defend a territory, discourage predation (think skunk). They don't necessarily stink the rest of the time.
Not to mention that what stinks to one creature may not stink to another. The odor is acceptable as "normal", but eventually that may lead back to scent communicating good or bad health too. As a very, very social species the smell of any one individual human living in a group became less and less of an issue. Social behavior took over as the thing that helped individuals survive threats.
I don't know much about pheromones but one species simply may not be able to detect some of the ones produced by another species. The olfactory messages they transmit may not be of interest or use to an individual of another species. A waste of energy to produce sex pheromones attractive to a species you can't breed with.
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-11-2023 at 02:47 PM..
Thank you Parnassia for your explanation and the other poster's responses as well. Parnassia, it makes a lot of sense and is fact based. You know your stuff!
I am still a creationist and I still hate human skank. So I will just maybe say.....I wish we all could be more like my cat. : ) Maybe with the exception of how she grooms the unreachable areas. lol.
Note that our value judgements in regards odors are learned, not natural...Read the accounts of those "Wild Boys" found on several occassions in France (why is it always France?)...They were found to rely on their olfactory senses much more than civilized people, and presented with various substances, including excrement, they merely sniffed it but were not at all repulsed....A good read is The Naked Ape which describes many plausable explanations for how we developed from beasts of the jungle to civilized men.
Baths & odors-- most of our odor comes from the action of bacteria on the secretions of from our appocrine glands, located at the bases of the appendages (groin & arm pits). Note that our unique bipedal posture makes those areas generally less well ventilated than the corresponding areas on quadripeds. The odor may well have something to do with our reproductive drives-- as noted in my first post...The vaiations in smell from individual to individual and maybe more obvious from race to race has to do with the indiosynchrisies of the bacteriial populations acting on the secretions.
Tooth decay-- caused by the combination of acidic decompostion of retained food material plus bacterial action. If you look carefully, you'll see human teeth are set very close together compared to other animals- we can easily get food particles stuck there. Our saliva contians amylase which hydrolyzes starch into acidic sugars., and that speeds decay. There is little to no decomposition of meat retained between out teeth. Cave men ate little in the way of starches and they had little decay in their teeth...Archelogical remains show little tooth decay untial after the devopment of grain farming 7000 yrs ago.
As an aside to Navyshow: here's some info you may find useful-- There have been only about 200 documented extinctions of large animals in the last 400 yrs, but every year, scientists find a couple hundred new spiecies. Where did rthey come from if not by spontaneous creation?
As an aside to Navyshow: here's some info you may find useful-- There have been only about 200 documented extinctions of large animals in the last 400 yrs, but every year, scientists find a couple hundred new spiecies. Where did rthey come from if not by spontaneous creation?
That is a very interesting statement guidoLaMoto. You and Parnassia could teach a biology class. Seriously. Thank you for the well presented information.
I still wanna be like my cat, would be amazing not to spend so much time of the day in the shower....
that would be one advantage...otoh, there's that problem of hair balls blocking up your stomach.
lol!
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This doesn't require much of a stretch. Your cat (just like the vast majority of species that never developed opposable thumbs) grooms/cleans itself using its tongue. Most likely, YOU do not. Even if you wanted to you can't reach your smellier parts with your tongue anyway. 
