# Nostrils

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostrils/655308>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 10, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostrils/655308 "2013-04-10T09:06:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostrils/655308/1 "2013-04-10T09:06:38Z")

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Why do we have two nostrils instead of one big nostril?

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**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostrils/655308/2 "2013-04-10T10:12:42Z")

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So you can tell which side a smell is coming from. (This is more important for most animals than it is for humans, but, despite the fact that they are close together, it really does work, even for humans with a bit of practice and in the right circumstances.)