• Question: why do we have two nostrils?

    Asked by taraleeburton to Johnson, Holly, Daz on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi Taraleeburton!

      I have no idea, honestly! I could guess though. The same reason we have two ears and eyes – it allows focusing of the signal. With only one eye, we cannot see ‘depth’, and without both ears, it can be hard to understand the direction that sound comes from. It is possible the nose is designed for a similar reason. Humans might be a bad example, but consider dogs and sharks. They live very differently but both have incredible senses of smell which not only can detect very distant food sources, but can very accurate direct the creature to the source, even with air and water interference.

      I would therefore expect that the main function of two nostrils is for this ‘homing’ of the senses to the source.

      I hope this helps!
      Daz

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