Scott Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Yip, random I know but I was thinking about this the other day and I can't really get my head round it. A scent is detected when tiny particles enter the nose onto sensory receptors. This means that when you smell poo...... yup you're actually tasting it. Side-note, what is thought of as taste is actually your sense of smell, tastebuds on your tongue only detect sweet, bitter, sour etc... the rest comes from your sense of smell. This is the reason why you lose your "taste" when you have a cold, you can still easily detect sweet, bitter, sour etc but most people don't register that with taste. Anyway... a shark can smell blood from approx 1/4 of a mile away. Does this mean that the particles of blood need to travel that 1/4 mile in order for the shark to "smell" it? I was always under the impression that it could detect and smell blood when an animal was injured, not an hour or so after the animal was injured (Depending on currents etc). Anyone into this sort of thing or who can shed some light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Im pretty sure its a mix of both the shark moving and the currents, and Im guessing that after 1/4 of a mile the blood is too diluted to be detected. Alot of animals can detect the 'smell' of putrifaction from alot further away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Im pretty sure its a mix of both the shark moving and the currents, and Im guessing that after 1/4 of a mile the blood is too diluted to be detected. Alot of animals can detect the 'smell' of putrifaction from alot further away See that's the thing that made me think about it. Obviously smells travel very quickly through air. It was the whole water thing that was throwing me off. The Shark has a whole lot of other senses that science is yet to fully understand so I'm thinking that even though it is possible for it to smell a scent 1/4 of a mile away, it will be more used to pinpoint once closer to the target.... the other senses will be used in order to get the Shark within chomping distance. The in built multimeter helps I think A shark can detect 1 part of blood per 1000000 parts of water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havard Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 A shark can detect 1 part of blood per 1000000 parts of water I think a shark has been bullshitting in the local pub about his sense of smell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 I think a shark has been bullshitting in the local pub about his sense of smell? You can tell it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 It'll be one of those American sharks that gets its best smells downhill. Seriously though, I know the answer to this but I want to read some half-baked ideas first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attero Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Yeah I'm not even sure how an animal is able to smell through water as there are too many molecules that are way more solid than air is. It's quite a mystery but I'm sure an answer is provided somewhere on Google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_jza80 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Perhaps the water acts as a conductor? And: http://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/shark3.htm http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI3_99e/noses.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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