Cats are known to have a good sense of smell. American researchers dug even deeper and created a 3D computer model of a cat’s nose.

Parallel coil gas chromatographs are highly sensitive laboratory instruments used to analyze the chemical composition of substances. Using computer simulations, researchers at the Ohio State College of Medicine found that the structure of a domestic cat’s nose works in the same way as such devices, and this explains their extremely good sense of smell, 14 times better than that of humans.

After creating a 3D computer simulation of a cat’s nose, the researchers found that evolutionary changes in the structure of cats’ noses led to a maze-like respiratory system that allowed cats to adapt to different environments. They created their detailed model of a cat’s nose using microcomputed tomography and identified the types of tissues in the animal’s nasal cavity.

CT scan of the nasal cavity of a human (left), mouse (middle) and domestic cat (right)

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Two distinct airflow regions are identified. It turns out that the respiratory and olfactory systems are clearly separate. In the first zone, the inhaled air is gradually filtered and dispersed across the palate before reaching the lungs. However, the second region passed through a central passage and is located in the olfactory region in the posterior part of the nasal cavity. On the other hand, the air directed here was recycled through parallel channels upon arrival and underwent a longer treatment process.

The Ohio researchers are the first to identify differences in gas chromatography efficiency between mammals and other species. It is estimated that a cat’s nose is more than 100 times more efficient at detecting odors than an amphibian’s straight nose on a similarly sized skull. “We know a lot about sight and hearing, but very little about smell. Our study could provide a better understanding of the evolutionary pathways behind the different nasal structures and their functional purpose,” the researchers wrote in PLOS Computational Biology in a journal.




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