Scientists have found the secret to felines' finesse at sniffing out food, friends and foes.

A complex collection of tightly coiled bony airway structures gets the credit, according to the first detailed analysis of the domestic cat's nasal airway. The researchers created a 3D computer model of the cat nose and simulated how an inhalation of air containing common cat food odors would flow through the coiled structures. They found that the air separates into two flow streams, one that is cleansed and humidified and another delivering the odorant quickly and efficiently to the system responsible for smelling - the olfactory region. In essence, the researchers suggest, the cat nose functions as a highly efficient and dual-purposed gas chromatograph - a tool that, in the laboratory, detects and separates chemicals in vaporized form. In fact, the cat nose is so efficient at this that its structure could inspire improvements to the gas chromatographs in use today. While the long alligator nose has also been found to mimic gas chromatography, researchers theorize that the compact cat head drove an evolutionary change that resulted in the labyrinthine airway structure that not only fits, but helps cats adapt to diverse environments. "It's a good design if you think about it," said Kai Zhao, associate professor of otolaryngology in Ohio State's College of Medicine and senior author of the study. "For mammals, olfaction is very important in finding prey, identifying danger, finding food sources and tracking the environment. In fact, a dog can take a sniff and know what has passed through - was it a friend or not?" he said. "That's an amazing olfactory system - and I think potentially there have been different ways to evolve to enhance that.

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