The high sensitivity of the cat’s sense of smell is achieved thanks to the spiral bone structures of the respiratory tract. Ohio State University reports.
Kai Zhao and his colleagues took a CT scan of the cat’s head and discovered The structure of the tissues of the respiratory tract using a microscope. Based on this data, the scientists created a 3D computer model of the cat’s olfactory system and discovered that it contains many spiral structures. The authors modeled how exhaled air containing the usual scents of cat food would pass through them.
It turned out that the air is divided into two streams: one is cleaned and humidified, and the other quickly and efficiently transmits the smell to the system responsible for the smell. “Our results demonstrated a clear separation of respiratory and olfactory streams with high-velocity dorsal-medial flow increasing the speed and efficiency of scent delivery to the olfactory region without sacrificing nasal respiratory functions,” the authors explain.
The scientists say this is a way for animals to circumvent head size limitations that prevent their olfactory structures from extending in a straight line indefinitely. Parallel odor spirals where air enters from a high velocity stream allow you to increase the effective path length while slowing the local velocity of the air stream which contributes to better odor analysis.
Formerly paleontologists to solvethat the ancient megalodon shark was warm-blooded.