# Can animals smell fear?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-smell-fear/79933>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 5, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-smell-fear/79933 "2001-09-05T21:35:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-smell-fear/79933/1 "2001-09-05T21:35:52Z")

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Regarding Cecil’s 1999 column:  
[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991231.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991231.html)

My take is this: No, animals can’t “smell” fear. But at least some animals (I’m thiking higher mammals)can sense fear by reading body language. It’s particularly evident with dogs, who have all kinds of visual signals of mood: Tail wagging(receptive)/straight(aggressive)/curled-down(submissive,fearful);teeth baring;shoulders hunched down or puffed up;etc.  
Humans also signal fear or aggressiveness by body posturing, so I think it’s a reasonable supposition that dogs,for one, can read this.

Any animal experts care to weigh in on this?

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-smell-fear/79933/2 "2001-09-05T22:02:31Z")

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So how would a bat sense fear?

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**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-smell-fear/79933/3 "2001-09-05T22:32:27Z")

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I’m not sure what the point of your question is, but it is not my contention that ALL animals can sense fear, just that some can. Humans and dogs for certain, and probably cats (they pounce on sudden movement, as Cecil notes). I can’t imagine why a bat would need to, though.