We have stereo smell to help with locating smells. There's also the nasal cycle. One nostril/sinus handles most of the airflow, then they swap (the sinuses are separate until they get to the throat). That way one can recover moisture, plus some smells are more easily detected with fast airflow and others with slow. So the nostrils functioning differently gives us a broader range of odor detection. What else? Umm, bilateral symmetry and redundancy is useful.
... So the snake can lick both our eyeballs at the same time before biting us on the nose?! Also two snake fangs, two human nostrils, aaahk it's twos all the way down!
This is the first thing I thought of too when I read the post. Though presumably this doesn’t answer the question from an evolutionary perspective - ENS happens when you alter the normal anatomy. If it evolved that way hopefully the creature would perceive that as normal.
15 Comments
Hackworth@piefed.ca · 117 pts · 256d
We have stereo smell to help with locating smells. There's also the nasal cycle. One nostril/sinus handles most of the airflow, then they swap (the sinuses are separate until they get to the throat). That way one can recover moisture, plus some smells are more easily detected with fast airflow and others with slow. So the nostrils functioning differently gives us a broader range of odor detection. What else? Umm, bilateral symmetry and redundancy is useful.
SonicBlue03@sh.itjust.works · 87 pts · 256d
This guy nose.
picnicolas@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 256d
Knows his noses.
acockworkorange@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 256d
Nobody nose it, but you've got a secret smile...
roofuskit@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 256d
The same reason we have two eyes and snakes have forked tongues.
empty04@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 256d
... So the snake can lick both our eyeballs at the same time before biting us on the nose?! Also two snake fangs, two human nostrils, aaahk it's twos all the way down!
roofuskit@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 255d
Snakes smell with their tongues.
Thisiswritteningerman@midwest.social · 4 pts · 255d
Since we use our nose to warm incoming cold air, I'm sure cutting the volume per nostril and boosting contact surface makes a significant difference
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 256d
Wtf do you mean the swap?!?!?
Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 256d
Yeah, if they could both work at the same time though, that'd be ideal.
the_q@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 256d
plateee@piefed.social · 10 pts · 256d
So that we know which side to lay on because one is clogged?
AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space · 9 pts · 256d
If you do enough cocaine, you can end up with one nostril. It happened to a British TV celebrity in the 90s.
Stamau123@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 256d
Happened to Steve-o too I believe
lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org · 9 pts · 256d
Bilateral symmetry, hox genes.
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 256d
SacralPlexus@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 256d
This is the first thing I thought of too when I read the post. Though presumably this doesn’t answer the question from an evolutionary perspective - ENS happens when you alter the normal anatomy. If it evolved that way hopefully the creature would perceive that as normal.
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 256d