5 Animals With An Extraordinary Sense Of Smell

Albatross

Find Schools of Fish
The albatross can smell fish from the air. Researchers have found that an albatross will alter its course toward prey located well out of visual range. The birds can monitor a miles-wide swath of ocean as they fly in a single direction.

Eastern American Mole

Smell In Stereo
Scientists recently discovered that the Eastern American mole smells in stereo. Because they're blind and have little use for hearing, moles use stereoscopic smell to determine their location and the location of their prey.



Moths

Locate A Distant Mate
Moths don't have noses. Instead, they have antennae covered in scent receptors. While they don't detect every scent well, male silkworm moths can sense a single molecule of female sex hormone from at least a mile away.


Sharks

Detect Specific Proteins
Sharks breathe with their gills, so their noses serve only to smell. They are particularly well tuned for hunting. Sharks can sense a prey's amino acids at concentrations as low as one part per billion.


Dogs

Target a Single Scent
Dogs have a keen ability to discriminate among smells. An Auburn tracking dog can follow a single human trail, laid more than 24 hours before, across a campus crisscrossed by tens of thousands of students.