For a six year old Joel was very bright. He topped his class in English, Maths, and History; Art was certainly not his strong point, but he absolutely loved Science. Both his parents were respected molecular biologists and it seemed their son was destined to follow in their footsteps. Joel was simply fascinated by living organisms. He could spend hours studying insects in the garden or inspecting the plants that grew on his windowsill. Joel's favourite activity was visiting his grandma’s pet beagle Dover. He would sit for hours in the park watching the dog with absolute amazement. Dover often got bored before Joel was ready to leave. One day after a visit to his grandma’s Joel asked his dad about Dover. “Why does he always walk around sniffing the ground?”
“A dog’s brain is very reliant on the odours it picks up. As humans we are much more dependent on our sense of sight,” his dad explained.
“So Dover can’t see very well.”
“Not as well as us, but his nose has about 200 million olfactory receptors in it; ours only have about 5 million. They can smell well over a hundred thousand times better than us.”
“A hundred thousand!” exclaimed Joel. He hadn’t been introduced to the number before but he knew that it was a lot. “Are you sure dad? Mr. Wright says you should always research a subject before listing the facts.”
“I’m quite sure son. Lots of people have studied the makeup of dogs’ senses over the years.”
“Why do they sniff each other’s bums then?” Joel earnestly inquired.
It was a good question. One his dad was unable to answer.
“A dog’s brain is very reliant on the odours it picks up. As humans we are much more dependent on our sense of sight,” his dad explained.
“So Dover can’t see very well.”
“Not as well as us, but his nose has about 200 million olfactory receptors in it; ours only have about 5 million. They can smell well over a hundred thousand times better than us.”
“A hundred thousand!” exclaimed Joel. He hadn’t been introduced to the number before but he knew that it was a lot. “Are you sure dad? Mr. Wright says you should always research a subject before listing the facts.”
“I’m quite sure son. Lots of people have studied the makeup of dogs’ senses over the years.”
“Why do they sniff each other’s bums then?” Joel earnestly inquired.
It was a good question. One his dad was unable to answer.