A lot of animals in the wild stink. Seriously. Check out a farm or a zoo. It’s quite possible that people just used to generally smell bad before the modern age.
But I guess a positive to this is, you know how you get used to a smell if you’re around it all the time? Like say you eat McDonald’s in your car on a long car journey. Nothing is out of the ordinary smell wise to you. But then you get to your destination and leave your car for a few days. You come back and notice it smells like shitty old McDonald’s because you had been away from it for a bit. What I’m getting at is if we were around stinky people all day we maybe weren’t bothered by it as much because you can go “nose blind” to that sort of thing after being exposed to it often.
A lot of animals in the wild stink. Seriously. Check out a farm or a zoo. It’s quite possible that people just used to generally smell bad before the modern age.
That’s definitely something to consider, but when I really think about it I’m not sure I completely agree with this. I am sure that some animals smell more than others, but also that a lot of the smell you notice especially in zoos is because you’re smelling their poop nearby. I think if you take most animals away from their bathroom area you may notice much less odor on their bodies.
I think of cats as an example, since I’m most familiar with having them at home. Cats are typically nearly odorless unless they have some health issue. They may not be the best example though, since they do clean themselves all the time unlike most other animals. Another thing to consider is how would those animals smell if they ate their natural diet that they would eat in the wild. I think that would also have an effect on their smell.
In short, I don’t think there’s much evidence that humans stunk to high heaven before the invention of soap and deodorant. I would gladly consider the evidence though.
Yeah, cats are a poor example, perhaps the poorest. :) Rodents and rabbits might be better for your proof. They rarely, if ever, seem to smell much. But then again they’re prey, wouldn’t be too beneficial to stink out loud.
You should meet a wild pig. Pigs are actually clean animals, especially careful about their poop. But Heysus Christos, a wild pig do stink.
I mean, here’s another thought…
A lot of animals in the wild stink. Seriously. Check out a farm or a zoo. It’s quite possible that people just used to generally smell bad before the modern age.
But I guess a positive to this is, you know how you get used to a smell if you’re around it all the time? Like say you eat McDonald’s in your car on a long car journey. Nothing is out of the ordinary smell wise to you. But then you get to your destination and leave your car for a few days. You come back and notice it smells like shitty old McDonald’s because you had been away from it for a bit. What I’m getting at is if we were around stinky people all day we maybe weren’t bothered by it as much because you can go “nose blind” to that sort of thing after being exposed to it often.
That’s definitely something to consider, but when I really think about it I’m not sure I completely agree with this. I am sure that some animals smell more than others, but also that a lot of the smell you notice especially in zoos is because you’re smelling their poop nearby. I think if you take most animals away from their bathroom area you may notice much less odor on their bodies.
I think of cats as an example, since I’m most familiar with having them at home. Cats are typically nearly odorless unless they have some health issue. They may not be the best example though, since they do clean themselves all the time unlike most other animals. Another thing to consider is how would those animals smell if they ate their natural diet that they would eat in the wild. I think that would also have an effect on their smell.
In short, I don’t think there’s much evidence that humans stunk to high heaven before the invention of soap and deodorant. I would gladly consider the evidence though.
Yeah, cats are a poor example, perhaps the poorest. :) Rodents and rabbits might be better for your proof. They rarely, if ever, seem to smell much. But then again they’re prey, wouldn’t be too beneficial to stink out loud.
You should meet a wild pig. Pigs are actually clean animals, especially careful about their poop. But Heysus Christos, a wild pig do stink.
Haha, never met a wild pig, but thanks for letting us know!