My Theory Why Bigfoot Smells

[georgerm]

All really good replies.

Seems like hunting deer as BF does and smelling bad would be counter productive. Do they roll in dead animal tissue to disguise their smell much like dogs do?

Maybe while gifting, someone needs to leave BF a bar of soap!

[the parkie]

Perhaps the moniker 'Bigfoot' should be dropped and replaced with 'Bigfart'.

[Sunflower]

I believe they eat lots and lots of meat, including little critters such as skunk, raccoons, opossums, birds, fish, etc. The smell has been described as skunky (which I smelled as the stink bomb came in on us). My sis's nose at the very same moment was a sulphur smell to her (weird huh?). Then I smelled a sewer odor that was overpowering to the point of me almost gagging a hundred miles away. Two different areas and very different odors. Maybe whatever the last critter that was eaten was also clinging to the hair of their body or coming out of their pores. My husband loves garlic and I smell it on him long after he has eaten and brushed his teeth.

A totally unrelated thought but here goes: During a particular active tornado season we finally had to go to our hidey hole. Hubby put our motorcycle helmets on both of us and away we went. On the short walk I got an odor from my own body that after I calmed down I realized that it "could" have been the smell of adrenaline, my adrenaline. I really thought we were going to die that nite, the tornado went over our house, touched down a block away, but it sounded like a jet plane going over. It was terrifying.

So smells could be the result of chemicals in our bodies, what foods we eat mixed with outside pollutants and who knows what??

If they are part human their chemical makeup might explain some of this......JMHO

[Guest truetalk]

well doesnt the largest land animals eat vegetation only? thats what i always thought but being a city boy i could be wrong

[Guest HarryAbe]

long hair, no showers and no deodorant equal stinky. i have a brother in law who has the same problems.

[Guest Oklahomabffan]

Agreed with Abe I have a neighbor that every time she knocks on te door and we open she doesn't even have to come in and my wife gets so mad because she stinks so bad. Not to e mean but that's really what I think.

[ThePhaige]

My feeling is they eat a ton of meat. I think much of their time is spent hunting food sources. I believe when they eat they tear the flesh of the animals removing the innards and are pretty messy while doing so. Much of the animal matter spatters all over them and begins to smell like, well rotting animal. Not to mention showers aren't probably a huge priority.The experience with the smell when I had my encounters was like dead flesh as in like a nasty dumpster. Sorry if that's kind of graphic but that's my feeling. I kind of wonder if they like the odor as my dogs when they came upon dead animal would love to roll on and get that smell all over themselves. I'm not convinced they stink so bad all the time as I'm sure a torrential rain or a dip in a river would help tame the stench some.

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

I personally think that the smell is secreted by a sasquatch based on its emotions and physical state. I figure that if the animal is afraid or startled, it is likely to involuntarily secrete the smell from some type of gland, probably located in the underarm area. This is logical considering that humans have smelly underarms as well. I think that it is also logical that if the bigfoot has not been submerged in water since last secreting this scent, the smell will hang on to the animal's hair, and this can be interpreted as a very mild but offensive odor when witnessed by a human.

I think the wind also plays a large factor in whether or not a human smells a sasquatch when seeing it as well. If the air currents are moving in the correct way, even if there is not much wind, this will be enough to affect whether the odor will reach the witness. Of course proximity will play a large role in whether the sasquatch can be smelled, because the scent may not have very far to travel to reach the witness.

[Guest Graydog52]

This is a question I wonder ,and, I find no answer. How can Bigfoot smell as bad as he smells and still track game, sniff out food plants, and smell out humans before they can find him.

I know that in bad odor situations we can experience olfactory fatique. I know that wild animals can smell people,despite their own gamey aroma.

Bigfoot 's smell is off the scale. If what I smelled was him , it surpassed anything I have imagined. It was like raw sewage to the power of ten. If bigfoot can navigate through that rich of an aroma, then, there must be a type of olfactory discernment.In other words perhaps his (bigfoot's) nose can ignore his body odor and actively focus on other smells.

Maybe like some of the previous posts mentioned : this is part of his defense or intimidation mechanism.

[Guest]

I always thought the odor came from navagating stagnant water. At least in western washing a large portion of the cascade foothills has water and swamp land running almost the entire length of them. I just figured bigfoot were using this to get around hence the smell, not to mention a good place to hide and a great source for food.

[ThePhaige]

It's a process called adaptation, or olfactory fatigue. Here is an example from a human perspective. Two children who were kept locked in the worse imaginable conditions by some pretty sick parents who kept them in a small enclosure who were chained, fed and defecating all in the same space. The area they were kept was never cleaned and when the children were liberated by law enforcement they reported the odor as being the most intensely nasty thing they had ever encountered, and it took literally days for that essence to leave their sense of smell. Now when the kids were carefully rehabilitated and studies were done it was observed that their sense of smell had done a kind of reversal, where things that we consider as smelling nice they found offensive and vice versa. It was deduced that this was a condition of the mind as some type of defense mechanism or bodily adaptation. This is not to be confused with phantosmia which is an olfactory hallucination, generally caused by a disease, nor is it anosmia which like amnesia to the olfactory system, or your brain forgetting what something smells like in short. I think we can all relate to when we spray on cologne in the morning we can really smell it and by the time were out the door not so much. Then we get to work and someone says "wow fella goin' a little heavy on the perfume" . This is natural olfactory fatigue. There are always odors in the air and over time they get mitigated by our minds so that we can discern any new odors that are presented to the environment. I think its probably the same for BF.

[beerhunter]

I have a theory that human senses (smell) are also more alert in times of danger. I admit it, I tend to smell offensive - according to my wife, if I fail to shower after 48 hours.

[Guest RedRatSnake]

Best Avatar Ever!

[Guest]

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/nutrition/diet-body-odor1.htm

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/nutrition/diet-body-odor1.htm

[Guest]

As for whether BF produces the attributed foul smell itself or it comes from something outside the BF.

Sweat glands come it 2 forms:

eccrine glands (found on primates where there is little hair): produce more moisture but less oil, humans have a ton of these.

apocrine glands (found where primates have hair): produce little moisture but more oil, other great apes have much more than we do.

Could BF have numerous apocrine glands which have evolved to produce a smelly oil? Possible I suppose. As to why? Possibly another discussion/thread.

Advantages to having an oily/greasy coat are numerous: fleas and lice prefer a clean oil free dry hair/fur and, greasy/oily hair is a huge advantage in conserving heat in cold wet climates(polar bears) just to name a few.....

BF's could deliberately coat themselves with grease/animal fat to help aid in these areas.

I cook for a living and can tell you first hand that rancid oil/fat is an absolutely foul smell thing. I've seen people gag and vomit from a big whiff.

Food for thought