In 1876, 12 "male lion hunters" infiltrated East Africa on the orders of the Queen of England, intending to catch a male lion and return as a pet, but shockingly, the male lion they caught was so smelly, comparable to "chemical weapons", that the VIPs who came to watch were smoked away, and the scene was once very embarrassing. So, how stinky are lions? What is the reason why they stink?
A foul-smelling lion
Many scientists recognize ethyl mercaptan as the most odorous substance in the world, and even if it is diluted 2.8 billion times, it can still smell it. In fact, it is also easy to understand, all substances with the words nitrogen or sulfur in the name, most of them taste bad. In fact, there are also the most smelly animals in the biological world, in addition to the traditional stinky animals such as skunks and vultures, it is surprising that lions are also on the list.
Lions are among the most smelly animals, and they deserve it. Lynx or domestic cats, which are also cats as lions, love to be clean, and in addition to avoiding dirty places, they often take care of their hair every day and clean up dirt and dust on their bodies. The hygiene habits of lions do not dare to compliment, coupled with the environmental impact of their lives, lions are indeed smelly.
Why does the lion's body "stink"?
As the king of the hundred beasts, lions are born majestic, but many people do not know that lions are also called "the king of the hundred smells", they are one of the 10 most smelly animals, especially lions in the wild, if they really want to smell closely, they want to leave this world immediately. #人人能科普, there is new knowledge everywhere #
Lions live in a hot environment with little rain
Lions live in the savannahs of Africa, where temperatures are sweltering all year round, and temperatures can reach 30°C even when it rains. Elsewhere it is divided into four seasons of the year, while in the African savannah it is divided into only dry and wet seasons.
During the dry season, there is even a long period of no rain, and various animals will follow the water source and a series of migrations will occur. The territory where lions live is generally relatively fixed, and even sometimes the water source they drink has become a problem, so lions should not want to use water to clean themselves.
In the wet season, although the rainfall is particularly abundant, for lions their shelter is either in the cave or under the tree. For a long time in the humid and hot environment, a large number of bacteria will grow in the hair on the surface of the lion's body, accompanied by the gradual fermentation of the lion's body temperature.
So for lions, whether in the dry season or in the wet season, there is no water that can be dried with too much wet season water, which is one of the reasons why they have a foul odor, but this is not the main thing.
Some people may think that the lion has a lot of hair on its body, and it must be sweating to cause a foul smell on the body, but this is not the case.
Lions do not have sweat glands
Buffalo, a herbivore in the African savannah, will lie in the shadows or cool down in the water whenever the day is at its hottest. Buffalo have very few sweat glands, so to cool their bodies, they cover the skin, and the moisture evaporates quickly, but the dry mud will adhere to the skin for a long time.
But lions have no sweat glands at all, and like all mammals, they need to control their body temperature.
Coupled with the fact that lions don't like water, they don't lie in the water to cool down. However, they breathe in large breaths, sucking air out of their noses and exhaling air quickly from their mouths. Through the passage of the nasal cavity, through the tongue to the lungs, the water evaporates in the process, thus cooling the body from within.
This cooling process is relatively slow, so in the heat lions have about 20 hours a day doing nothing, which also helps to cool down.
In the natural environment, the place where the lion lies is either under the shade of the tree or under the big rock, and it is inevitable that some dirty things will be on the hair, so this will also cause the lion to have a peculiar smell.
But one thing is for sure, the stink on lions is not due to sweating.
Lions eat carrion, and the time to eat is particularly long. They all think that lions are the kings of the steppe and should eat fresh vegetables, but the reality is very cruel, in order to survive, all kinds of animals have trained extraordinary survival skills. Sometimes lions can't hunt, so as not to starve, even if they are kings? It's not about eating carrion with your head down.
According to statistics, the proportion of lions eating carrion accounts for 60%, every time a group of lions eat together, it can be described as "blood rain and wind", grinning, fighting for each other, eating all over the face full of prey blood, up to two hours of eating, can only be more smelly than anyone.
The lion's territory stinks. The smell brought by eating and sleeping is already very smelly, I didn't expect them to make their own home stinky, they shouted in order to declare territorial sovereignty, in the territory, and also pulled their own high concentration of urine, high-quality feces on the border to make marks, a circle of urine gas, feces smell straight to the heart, lions in order to survive, very desperate.
What are the top 10 most smelly animals?
In 2015, the science and education channel "Natural Legends" selected the "Top Ten Most Smelly Animals Ranking", and the odor levels from low to high were "sperm whales, sloths, lemurs, spotted hyenas, tube-nosed storks, lions, millipedes, male elephants, bald eagles, skunks". The fifth-ranked lions are so smelly, so how smelly are the other animals?
