http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=HQCCOTMG5XYTACRBAEKSFFA?type=healthNews&storyID=2452880 or http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2C4319F3
Excerpt: Evolution Explains Why Chimps Beat us by a Nose Wed March 26, 2003 11:07 AM ET By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research shows that humans' sense of smell is much less acute than that of other primates.
Just why we cannot sniff out scents as accurately as other mammals remains unclear, but the reason may stem from our gradual reliance on other senses to provide us with information, researchers suggest.
And although modern humans must now rely on dogs to sniff out drugs and other contraband at airports, our early ancestors may have been capable of the job themselves, study author Yoav Gilad told Reuters Health.
In the past, humans likely carried noses as keen as modern species with more acute senses of smell, he said. People then probably lost that ability over time.
"Immediately after the separation of the human and chimpanzee species, they both had an identical sense of smell," Gilad explained.
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