Can animals smell fear?

golok

golok

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It has long been my belief (as told by others as well) that animals can literally sniff fear in other life-forms, like humans.

So sometimes when I am walking pass a ferocious-looking dog, I mentally tell myself: "Show no fear." It is partly to emit the signal to the animal that it is not confronting a scared human.

Just like sharks can detect blood in the water, other animals can smell fear in others.

If that is true, how can humans give the "right" signals to gain an advantage (if any)?
 
I'm no authority on the subject, but I used to work with an animal rescue group, and had to pick up a number of large dogs of unknown temperment, or those said to be "mean". I've never been afraid of dogs, and I think that my lack of fear, coupled with slow and reassuring movements and speech, helped to prevent any problems with handling the animals.

I also believe that humans can also pick up on signs of fear or weakness in another person -- that there are predatory humans that can sense a good victim.
 
I don't think animals actually smell fear, but they are highly sensitive to emotions, probably through a combination of senses. Dogs pick up on human emotions instantly. Horses do, if you are all freaked out your horse will freak out too. Wild animals with more than a handful of brain cells should be no different.
 
I think it has more to do with the way fear makes us react. When we are afraid we become tense, edgy, and prone to quick jerky motions, and to an animal, movements that are either threatning or simmilar to the behavior of prey.
 
When I was a kid (about 8 or so) a large german shepard charged me as I walked by its yard (I was on the road). I was so frightened, that I was literally frozen. I just stood there, staring as the dog charged up. A few feet short of me it stopped and just stood there snarled. At this point the owner ran out of the house, called the dog off, apologized profusely and praised my "good sense" for standing my ground and not running. I didn't tell her that it was abject terror, rather than good sense, but in any case based on this incident, I would say that it isn't just olfactory cues that they use. If it was a matter of smelling my fear, I almost certainly would have been that dog's lunch that day.

In my experience since, it seems to me that (at least with dogs) its much more a matter of what you bodily do and what sounds you make that determine how a dog responds to you.
 
Yes.
Fortunately, your training and braining puts you on top of the food chain, so you don't have to be afraid of them.
 
I don't know if all animals can smell fear, but I know that dogs can. The fear response includes the release of adrenaline into the blood stream. Dogs can detect that.
Bob
 
I believe that animals can sense fear. I also firmly believe they can sense when a predator is hunting them.

Paul
 
rdg said:
I don't know if all animals can smell fear, but I know that dogs can. The fear response includes the release of adrenaline into the blood stream. Dogs can detect that.
Bob
Click to expand...

I have heard that as well. It is also widely believed to be true of bees. I know of no reputable studies, but it is no stretch for me to believe that animals with much more acute senses than ours can detect ("smell") increased adrenal output.

This is why the right anti-perspirant is sooooo important. :D
 
Yes, they can.

Ever thought about how a dog is able to follow the trail of a human? They smell the very few sweat molecules that manage to move through the plastic soles of your shoes!

It's just silly to assume they won't notice the difference in your odor when you stand in front of them .. sweating in panic. :D

-Connor
 
With respect: that means a dog (o.k., also other animals) can smell adrenaline byproducts in our blood. I agree. But in my opinion it doesn't mean they can smell fear, or that these byproducts in fact always and only correlate with fear.

I'd agree that they can smell (and perhaps alert to) the byproduct. But IMHO whether or not the animal (once alerted) reacts to you as if he sees you as fearful, aggressive, excited and wanting to play, etc... this is based on subtle body language you display.
 
I find it very hard to believe that a dog's reaction to fear is due to the smell. (I'd love for a vet or zoologist to weigh in here).

I'm convinced it's all about body language and whether you show dominant, non-threatening body language, versus cowering, jittery movements of a freightened person. They also respond to how you make eye contact with them.
 
They don't smell fear, they see it. An animal without verbal skills depends on much subtler forms of communication. They read your "vibes" long before they can detect with other senses.

Ever notice how you see more game when you're not hunting? That's not coincidence or luck, the game is getting the vibe that you are not a dangerous preditor.
 
You guys never heard of pheromones?

Most insects, including bees, communicate using these complex chemicals... and more complex life forms (just like us) also do. Love sick cats are emitting "love" pheromones all over the place. A person in love also emits loads of them. They don't "smell" anything to us, but they are perceived by our bodies, which react mechanically to them. It's just not conscious.

Next time you go to a public place, just check how people pick their seats. Most guys will instinctively sit on a chair that was last occupied by a young, healthy, non-pregnant woman. Most women will sit on a chair last occupied by a young, healthy male. Check it out and do some stats. It's well above 65%, and a lot more in the summer. That was tested in a public place using "sprays" of pheromones. I saw the video. It was just incredible.

So... Dogs, and most animals, just like us, are sensitive to pheromones. Do they consciously smell it or not, nobody can tell, but it's not hard for me to believe that they can sense any fear pheromone coming their way and interpret it correctly. I think most insects and animals do, and humans too, just not consciously.

Cheers,

David
 
golok said:
It has long been my belief (as told by others as well) that animals can literally sniff fear in other life-forms, like humans.
Click to expand...

All I have to go by is how all my dogs have reacted. Before a visual is even made, they 'sniff' the presence of another animal or human, the fur goes 'up' on their back & they may start growling. It's the scent of the animal or human not any kind of 'fear' that they smell. When a visual is made of the animal or human, it seems to be body movements & sounds which my dogs react to, not the smell of 'fear'. Just some of my observations.
 
Moine is all over it with the pheromones. Our smellers are a lot more complex than just smelling noticeable odors and because we actually have a very limited ability in that area as compared to most other creatures around us, theirs are undoubtedly doing things we can only guess on.

Here's something that happened and you be the judge of why it happened. I'm a hunter. Above all else in my life, that is my prime function, or at least was until the last few years. Many years ago the wife and I along with our then very young daughter went to a wild animal park in Oregon. There was a section full of deer, goats, sheep and other what I'd consider game, where the younsters could feed, pet and otherwise enjoy interaction with other creatures. I stayed inside the building and was paying as the wife and our daughter went through the rear door and into the enclosed area. They were immediately surrounded by critters looking for a handout. I bought some feed and walked out to join them and all was fine. That is, until my hunting senses took over and I started targeting a particularly fine buck in my mind. I was standing completely motionless with my head down, eyes on the buck and my hands folded in front of me. I pictured myself drawing my bow, releasing the arrow and the arrow striking the buck in the chest. The reaction was immediate. Every one of the 30 some animals that had been interacting on a friendly basis with my young daughter and wife immediately raised their heads, ears cocked towards me, they sniffed the air and bolted about 100 yards away from me and gathered in a corner behind a building. I had to leave the area so that the animals would again begin to interact with the humans that were there to enjoy them. There was no weapon, there was no fear, there was no aggressive stance or body language. There was only my thoughts and my scent. Call it their ability to read our feelings/thoughts, call it a change in my scent, a combo of both or something else. I'm a firm believer that just because humans don't experience things on a certain level, that it doesn't mean that other creatures don't. There's just too much we don't know about those creatures that we live on this planet with. That and our minds tend to be closed to those things we can't perceive or understand. In time perhaps we as a species will understand these and other things and will be all the better for it.
 
Longbow,

Wow... impressive story. I totally believe it. I've been experiencing the same thing with humans regularly :D

Last time was back from a 2 weeks long canoe trip in the middle of nowhere. Silence, peace and nature... When I got back to the place we had rented the canoes, I had to go the the office to sign-out... It was noisy, crowded and I had to squeeze in... That really was a shock after all that peace from 2 weeks in the bush. It pissed me off bad. All of a sudden, I realized I had plenty of room... People were all looking at me with a scared look on their face, and they were moving away...

Oh well... maybe it's because I had brought no soap on the trip, I dunno :D

Just joking. Really, I believe your story. I've seen that kind of thing happen more than once... Animals can and DO feel preys AND predators.

Thanks for sharing the story,

David
 
I too believe that if animal can sense that, human also have the same ability, although most of the time, modernization has taken over much of our instinctual ability in this area. Like the sample and evidence from pheromone test, subconsciously (at least most are not aware) people react to each other on this level too.

That explain why the old advice of walking tall with confidence will deter bullies applies most of the time.
 
Lonbow, I have experienced similar responses. When I am still hunting, I will not hesitate to go ahead and nap. Sleep apparently turns off your predator signal and game is likely to be present when you wake. Reading a book will work sometimes also.

I hesitate to label it pheramones or anything else that is attributable to the 5 known senses though. I have seen the same predator-prey reaction when spear fishing on the reef in So FL. Either the gamefish know what a speargun is and its exact range, or they're reading my mind.

Never trust anyone that your dog doesn't like.
 
Cutler, yep I agree. Still hunting is my favorite way to hunt most game and I learned a long time ago to turn off the predator mode and go for a slow hike. Nap, read, day dream of my woman, scribble down a few notes about what I've experienced, anything but think about killing. A lot of times I'll stump shoot as I go and have great success by seasons end. I've gotten to the point that I've been able to sneak up within arms length on a couple of spike bucks (illegal to shoot spikes) and reached an arrow out and touched one on the rump. He never knew I was there until I touched him. Yet, I've stood 50 yards away, completely hidden, down wind and zero'd in on the chest cavity and they look right at me.

That leads me to believe that it's not a matter of the usual five senses. But seeing it happen and understanding that it happens doesn't help me to know why it happens. Hunting into the wind and hunting the thermals says that no scent or pheramones should be getting to the critter at all. Yet, when I turn on the predator mode, the arrow better be on it's way.
 
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