Human Senses 1. Smell and Taste (13 of 21)

Human Senses

The camera crew aren't taking any chances.
Yeah if you get the spray on your clothes you usually have to throw them away.
Anyone trying to wrangle them back into the travel cage - runs a high risk of being skunked.
There he is Argh.
Skunk spray contains chemicals like the ones that give garlic its eye watering burn.
And rotting eggs their sulphurous stench.
The combination is a powerful repellent.
Jerry got him.
Now bring him over here in to the cage, and drop him right in.
Yeah, look at that he's, phew.

There we go - great.
Thanks for that demonstration.
If you see a skink you're expecting to smell something awful.
But will a man drenched in skunk spray, we can test what people's genuine reactions are merely to the smell.
So skunk definitely smells bad.
But it's not totally unbearable.
It 's not a bad smell from a distance actually.
Skunk is ok down wind.
It doesn't bother me.
lts l mean l would buy it as a cologne.
As long as l keep moving l'm fine.
yeah yeah.
l want to sit in it, you know l think people exaggerate more when they smell, they go ''Argh skunk, oh.''
Yeah they make a big thing out of it.
It 's not that bad.
It 's not the worst smell in the world.
lts not, its not ugh ugh.
So if we're after the bad smells with the most gut wrenching effects on us there must be something worse than a skunk?