We usually think that animals like dogs, wolves bears have the best sense of smell but in 2014 researchers proved that African elephants have the greatest sense of smell among the mammals. They also beat dogs including the Bloodhound renowned for its sniffing ability. Humans may be the most intelligent creatures on earth but due to thousands of years of evolution some species have developed some uncanny ability.
In all animals the part responsible for the sense of smell are the Olfactory receptors (ORs), also known as odorant receptors. These are in epithelium of nose and provide the sense of smell. They have cilia that contain the receptors in its membrane and can detect specific chemicals.
Researchers examined the olfactory receptor (OR) repertoire encoded in 13 mammalian species and found that African elephants have the largest number of OR genes i.e., around 2000 functional OR genes which is twice that found in dogs and five times more than in humans. This research put forward that an elephant’s nose is not only long but also superior. Humans have the least number of OR genes compared to all other species examined, which is possibly because our vision acuity is more improved which diminished our reliance on smell.
An elephant’s nostrils, located at the tip of the long trunk can detect water sources up to 19.2 km (12 miles) away. Elephants, both African and Asian, have a superior sense of smell when it comes to water, and particularly to underground water. They can scent water as far as 12 miles away, and they can remember where they have previously found water. A herd of elephants will use feet and tusks to dig waterholes for themselves to drink and bathe, but they're willing to share, so the exposed water benefits other animals as well.
Are rhinos blind?
Rhinos are not blind, however they suffer from poor eyesight. Studies have shown that a rhino’s eyesight is around half as good as a cat’s and a tenth as good as the average person’s. They’ve been known not to notice other substantially sized animals, such as humans, even when they’re a hundred feet away on an open plain.
Rhinos have excellent hearing to compensate
for their poor vision, and once they start to charge you and you lose control
of your bodily functions they also have an excellent sense of smell to further
help them.
Why do rhinos have poor eyesight?
The result is that many rhino populations have resorted to in-breeding, which results in genetic defects such as poor eyesight and – making the problem even worse – infertility.
How rhinos ended up so scarce is a long story. They were once common throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa and early Europeans knew them well since they appear in cave paintings. Even as recently as the beginning of the 20th century, 500,000 rhinos roamed Africa and Asia, but now that number may have dwindled to as few as 29,000, after decades of hunting, poaching and habitat loss.
In recent years bad news has come thick and fast: the western black rhino and northern white rhinos were declared extinct, only two northern white rhinos remained alive and, just four months ago, Iman, the last Sumatran Rhinoceros in Malaysia, died, Rhinos are far from the only big beast to be endangered by reduced numbers and resultant in-breeding.
Credits and References :
Written by : Varun Muthiyan & Mamta Wankhade (Team Fun fact Friday)
Image credits –
https://www.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/topics_e/topics_2014_e/20140812-1.html
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