Often on walks I smell those typical musky scent flags, always thinking they are from fox. But I’m not completely sure, because dogs spray too. In addition, in the city, where there are more dogs, but where they do spray, I don’t smell those typical scent flags.
Can you smell a dog’s scent flag, what does it smell like, and is it different from a fox’s?
Answer
Best,
It is true that both dog and fox (among others) ‘use’ their urine to leave scent flags. With fox, however, the smell is much more pungent, so that we as humans can indeed perceive it well. In dogs, that smell is much less strong, and hardly or not perceptible by humans during normal passage. Dogs therefore smell immensely better than humans, but also compared to foxes. With foxes, the smell at close range is much more important.
So what you smell during walks will not be from a dog, but possibly from a fox (which is very typical indeed). However, there are still animals that leave a somewhat similar odor flag: shrews (different species) can, despite their very small size, produce a very strong musk odor eg when disturbed (attack by cat or other animal). But spraying (feral) cats can also be easily smelled in the field, and that smell can sometimes lead to confusion with that of foxes.
Best regards,
Koen Van Den Berge
Answered by
Koen Van Den Berge
distribution and ecology of mammals in Europe / fauna management
Kliniekstraat 25 1070 Brussels
http://www.inbo.be
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