Post B0hyGuZVypkIcms6Bk by CowboyWho@libranigans.com
 (DIR) More posts by CowboyWho@libranigans.com
 (DIR) Post #B0hy050hutAe4nZ4d6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:17:52Z
       
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       Mammals have two nostrils but they aren't really far enough apart for our sense of smell to have much stereo or sense of direction. Why aren't nostrils on the side of the head so we could map smell in space more?Ants do this with their antennae. Like sound, ants sense chemicals as coming from a direction. I guess having your nose under your mouth and connected to your mouth helps with eating. But still seems like a missed opportunity.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hyGuZVypkIcms6Bk by CowboyWho@libranigans.com
       2025-11-28T15:20:47Z
       
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       @futurebird Could be worse ... could just have one hole on top of your head like dolphins.Related: Can dolphins smell?
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hyK9ndotTaio1ic4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:21:29Z
       
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       @hellomiakoda So that's NOT just to be annoying??
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hyWu4dbETZiI3Rmi by masp@wandering.shop
       2025-11-28T15:23:46Z
       
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       @futurebird @hellomiakoda I’m still stuck on the “nose under your mouth” part 😅
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hyXv5tI9ubAQ7pz6 by petealexharris@mastodon.scot
       2025-11-28T15:23:54Z
       
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       @futurebird Is that how forked snake tongues work? If so, vertebrates already evolved directional smell once, so it's not ridiculous.But maybe getting an immediate last-second warning that what you're about to eat might be rotten has a stronger selection pressure than telling what direction a smell is coming from in general.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hykEQVEwlEbIdZXk by DrorBedrack@mastodon.social
       2025-11-28T15:26:10Z
       
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       @futurebird Evolution makes a creature as ineffective as it can get away with
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hyqNd5w6DUsgSVZA by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:27:17Z
       
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       I spent some time with my sister-in-law's cat and #PicaTheCat has been *studying* my pants and bag with extreme intensity since I came home. It's the next day and she's *still* at it. Her whole body is focused. Like she's reading directions on a tax form. How much information is she getting? I can't even smell anything there but she is deeply interested in the smell of the "other cat"I don't think she's being jealous.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hyxIU3SytEwsWqXI by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:28:34Z
       
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       It's like when I was a teen and my mom would start quizzing me about my friends "where do they live? what kind of shoes do they have? where does their mom work? on and on..."Only it's just Pica reading the smells of this other cat. Now and then she will look up with her mouth open ... I think to huff the smells more deeply in some cat way. I tried petting her but she ignored me and kept *smelling*
       
 (DIR) Post #B0hzKkMC06Xg3Y269A by mhstoixeiwmenopip@kafeneio.social
       2025-11-28T15:32:46Z
       
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       @futurebird they do indeed smell better with their mouth open
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i05s6d0YIFhRDvYu by mathcolorstrees@mstdn.social
       2025-11-28T15:41:17Z
       
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       @futurebird shoes? 😅
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i0Ebx8QykMCwx00u by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:42:55Z
       
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       @mathcolorstrees My pants seem to be the focus. But in the past she has had some ... concerning ... behavior re: shoes. She likes to stick her face in them after you take them off. :( And then she rolls around with them and it... it's kind of indecent!However Pica does not care.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i0Vmz4fo6PLN35Oa by llewelly@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:45:59Z
       
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       @futurebird in tetrapods generally it seems rare to have a head that is broad at the front. Nigersaurus and Atopodentatus come to mind, but they're very much the exception. And neither seems to have had the nares especially far apart.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i0Z4KMeCke0BZSGO by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:46:36Z
       
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       @mathcolorstrees Oh you meant my mom asking about shoes. Yeah, that's also strange. She saw something on the news about shoes and gangs or something I think. "Who is Peter? How old is he? Does he do his homework? What kind of grades does he have?"How would I know!
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i0awg044z0qsaN5k by mathcolorstrees@mstdn.social
       2025-11-28T15:46:54Z
       
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       @futurebird I thought your mom asked about the shoes!
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i0dHFmWxARFYQyrA by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:47:21Z
       
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       @mathcolorstrees Both she and Pica the cat think about shoes too much IMO.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i0g4lJQiBNNRW6WO by mathcolorstrees@mstdn.social
       2025-11-28T15:47:51Z
       
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       @futurebird I like your mom I think :)
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i0vyVoR1eEctqeFk by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:50:45Z
       
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       @mathcolorstrees I have come around to liking her. But I think like a lot of people I couldn't stand her when I was a teen/early 20s.But she has always meant well and mostly DONE well too. She is the most literal person I know though. Like never gets jokes, doesn't see the point of reading fiction, but if you explain something to her *with evidence* she will always change her mind. This gave me very unrealistic exceptions for other people in my life.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i1MlrtYJFVENxEmG by mathcolorstrees@mstdn.social
       2025-11-28T15:55:34Z
       
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       @futurebird “always meant well and mostly done well” is as much as anyone can expect of a (human) parent. You usually get a combination of gifts and curses. Was she a scientist too?
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i1OWJGMzJRYXacQi by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:55:54Z
       
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       @mathcolorstrees Mathematician.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i1cqARKttBCKI6xk by mathcolorstrees@mstdn.social
       2025-11-28T15:58:27Z
       
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       @futurebird ♥️
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i1jup0Qiadeydh0C by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T15:59:46Z
       
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       @mathcolorstrees I have many friends who had parents who ... were not great. So, I'm thankful for that. I sometimes have student where their parents worry me. Though mostly what I see is good.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i2HqaChCuSMLta2S by oblomov@sociale.network
       2025-11-28T16:05:51Z
       
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       @futurebird do I remember wrong  or the main reason why we don't have much of a spatial perception of smells is that we mostly use nostrils in alternation (nasal cycle)? When actively sniffing with both nostrils we do get a more clear idea about where smells come from.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i2m85eAYLFLQ2h8q by mathcolorstrees@mstdn.social
       2025-11-28T16:11:20Z
       
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       @futurebird it’s so hard to see.  I realized later how lucky I was in the mom department.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i46EYhvbyb9Wmm6i by morten_skaaning@mastodon.gamedev.place
       2025-11-28T16:26:08Z
       
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       @futurebird with ants being to small and close to the surface the "wind" could be dominated by turbulence-free laminar flows. These would preserve order in how smell particles arrive and thus provide spatial awareness. Larger distances can produce more turbulent flows without much spatial order and so you might as well just sample them in mono.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i5G589w8p6lHcyjg by raika_amaris@mastodon.social
       2025-11-28T16:39:11Z
       
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       @futurebird @mathcolorstrees My #BellaBellissima is obsessed with shoes too. A preference for freshly-worn, but all shoes are hers. She'll stick her head in, but most of her shoe time is her draped over and around them, relaxing.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0i5bf37aRoGF7Yqe0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
       2025-11-28T16:43:06Z
       
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       @raika_amaris @mathcolorstrees "Stop writhing on my shoe like that." is something I have to say more often than anyone ought to. It also is pointless to say since she listens can tell I'm displeased but not why and just keeps ruining the shoe area. 🤣
       
 (DIR) Post #B0iYzQRESYPoY2WSyf by nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social
       2025-11-28T22:12:18Z
       
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       @futurebird One of my cats does this today.  I used to have one who not only did this, but got angry at me.  "You petted another cat?"I can't visit them and just ignore them though.  That would be rude!  Outright uncouth!
       
 (DIR) Post #B0ijylLUL8s8b5irK4 by SpaceLifeForm@infosec.exchange
       2025-11-29T00:15:26Z
       
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       @futurebird Ants communicate with chemical messages, and they live underground.  You do not live underground.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0jEx3wbJijsHOkcYy by lufthans@mastodon.social
       2025-11-29T06:02:26Z
       
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       @futurebird Pica is getting a report from your sis-in-laws cat on how well your training is going. It's like a 3rd party audit on your proficiency
       
 (DIR) Post #B0jFCihy2Wz73CN93w by lufthans@mastodon.social
       2025-11-29T06:05:16Z
       
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       @futurebird @mathcolorstrees a friend's cats put their heads and forelegs into shoes, then push them around like toboggansThey can't see where they're going, but they're going anyway
       
 (DIR) Post #B0jwt2r3oz0Vj43Pou by jemostrom@mastodonsweden.se
       2025-11-29T14:14:46Z
       
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       @futurebird could it be that if you sneezed you would crush your head 🤪