Where it is
The tip of the muzzle, the hairless skin around the nostrils.
- Layer
- Exterior and regions
- System
- Body regions
- Region
- Head
What it is and what it does
The nose leather is the tip of the nose: the moist, hairless skin with the two nostrils. Through the nostrils, air enters the nasal cavity, where the nasal turbinates and the olfactory epithelium are. Scent is detected through the olfactory epithelium and the olfactory nerves; the vomeronasal organ is an additional pathway for chemical detection.
The atlas does not use multipliers of the "smells X times better" kind: such figures vary enormously between sources and say nothing useful about anatomy.
Worth remembering
The atlas does not use figures of the "smells X times better" kind: such comparisons say nothing useful about anatomy.
Names
- Also called: nose leather, tip of the nose.
- Latin term: planum nasale.
- In Romanian: Trufa (Romanian page).
In the atlas lessons
Journey of a scent (5 min):
The nose leather: bare, moist and cool skin, with a pattern unique to each dog; sensitive to radiant heat (Bálint 2020). The moisture does not “catch” odor molecules.
Sniffing: bursts of 4-7 per second, the same frequency at all sizes. Each nostril takes a separate sample, from about 1 cm ahead.
Exhalation goes down and to the sides, as a jet, and stirs up odors from the ground without scattering them.
Questions from the atlas
"Find it on the drawing" questions whose answer is this structure; in the atlas you will find them in the question bank and in the lessons.