Why some whales can smell in stereo
One nostril is good. But two can be better
ANY SCHOOLCHILD knows that a whale breathes through its blowhole. Fewer know that a blowhole is an adapted nostril, tweaked by evolution into a form more useful for a mammal that spends its life at sea. And only a dedicated cetologist would know that while toothed whales, such as sperm whales and orcas, have one hole, baleen whales, such as humpback and Rice whales, have two.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Bloodhounds of the sea”
From the February 3rd 2024 edition
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