How Do Dogs Smell So Well? David Tennant Explains The Science Behind It

If you’ve spent much time around dogs before, you probably notice that they love to sniff things. They use smell to decipher the world around them and gain a lot of information from their noses. It’s impressive, really.

When I take my dog for a walk, he’s constantly tugging the leash to sniff around the ground. He uses his nose to find the perfect place to relieve his bladder, determine if someone is friend or foe, and decide if something is worth eating, among other things.

When compared to how we, humans, use our noses, it’s incredible what dogs can get from smell alone.

While it’s no secret that dogs have a keen sense of smell and use that to their advantage, few people realize just how dogs smell so well.

Recently, John Downer Productions shared a video of the science behind dog’s incredible sense of smell on YouTube, explaining: “[A] specialised filming technique known as Schlieren photography shows how smell not only plays a part in searching for food in the dog world but also in romantic liaisons.”

The clip was featured in the BBC/PBS series Pets Wild at Heart. Throughout the clip, David Tennant narrates, explaining the science behind a dog’s incredible sense of smell.

According to the video, humans possess some six million olfactory receptors in the nose for smell, whereas dogs possess around 300 million! Wow!

Given that alone, it’s no surprise that dogs dedicate 40X more of their brain to deciphering smell when compared to humans.

To learn more about how dogs smell so well, check out the video below: