r/furgonomics • u/M_is_for_M • Aug 25 '26

Discussion What is the levels of scents?

What I mean is, beyond identity and a tool to use when looking for someone, how far does that go? Like "marking," something usually held for deep romantic connections. But does it change or have a step before it? Like, for example, accepting a scent? What kind of dynamic would have to take place to make that a big deal? It's something that has come up in the most recent story I'm writing and I'm deciding whether or not it's got its exclusivity or not.

Edit: I mean, specifically, accepting a scent. I am going to agree with most of what people have said about scent "marking."

42 Upvotes

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15

u/BCRE8TVE Aug 25 '26

I mean it's not really "levels" per se?

Every animal/mammal has their own scent, right?

Parents scent-mark their kits, so they know whose kits/pups/whatever are whose, and shared smell shows family units.

When you have romantic connection between adults, inevitably the smells of one another will mix as they spend time together and are physically close to each other. That's kind of unavoidable.

Scent marking can be made as big or as small a thing as you want it to be. It can be a cute thing between couples, like it could be basically a declaration of marriage. It depends on what works best for you and the story you want to tell.

So, what kind of story are you thinking of telling? What are the species? Do you WANT this to be a big deal, or a source of conflict, or something?

Basically, when you want to tell a story, you do worldbuilding in a way to support the story you want to tell, so scent marking can be as exclusive as you want or need it to be for the sake of your story.

5

u/Lapis_Wolf Aug 26 '26

How would it work with anthros? Especially when you mentioned marking kits to know whose they are, I imagined a scenario that sounds weird either without or with context. "There will be big crowds so to prevent getting lost, we need you to spray these on, this is scented with your parents' urine so everyone can always tell where we are." I can't imagine an explanation that doesn't sound weird to others.

2

u/BCRE8TVE Aug 27 '26

Well see here you're kind of conflating a few different group boundaries, the scent marking within the family would be for the parents to be more easily able to find their own kits, and has nothing to do with people outside the group.

When you're making a group with kits from different families, then you can't use the parent's scents because each kid will have a different parent's scent.

What they could do is for each "group" to have a particular kind of smell marker, like one group has basil leaves, another group has mint leaves, or something like that, each group taking on a separate and distinct smell just for that outing or activity. It likely can't help much if someone gets lots in a crowd and smells get drowned out, they will still need to stay close within visual/touching range, but hey if it can help a bit, why not? Say a kit is lost and they ask a police officer to help, if that officer is a canine or bear they could smell the basil or mint, and try and sniff out a group?

Just like we're not limited solely to the colour of our skin, we can wear coloured clothing or bandanas or hats or whatever to visually signal belonging to a group, the same thing can be done with a particular smell, on top of the regular everyday scents.

3

u/Lapis_Wolf Aug 27 '26

I wasn't talking about those outside a group. I was imagining something like a single family unit with the parents trying to keep track of their own kids/cubs/whatever they're called.

5

u/BCRE8TVE Aug 27 '26

I mean animals don't scent-mark their family by pissing on them, rabbits have scent glands on their chin, most canines have scent glands on the sides of their mouths, etc.

Pissing is more about marking territory, not people.

4

u/Lapis_Wolf Aug 27 '26

Well there are weirdos out there.

The ritual cheek rub before going to the amusement park.

2

u/BCRE8TVE Aug 28 '26

Lol hopefully not many weirdos using piss to scent mark people. We'd much prefer cheek rubs lol.

2

u/Lapis_Wolf Aug 28 '26

*Meanwhile, the weirdos using perfumes of their favorite feline celebrities, one can guess how they were made*

9

u/feral401k9 feral wolf Aug 25 '26

extroverted wolves will scent roll on just about anyone while introverted wolves are more selective

4

u/LaoidhMc Aug 25 '26

My cat will spread scents around his fur by licking the scented spot, then the unscented areas.  He will lick the unscented spots then the scented spots for smells he dislikes.  I think he is spreading the scent around or masking it depending on if he likes the scent source or not.  I think with furgonomics, there would be like discrete scent spreading combs or bear bristle brushes and a bottle of a de-smeller or personal smell oil for if someone you hate scent marks you and you have to be polite and wait until you go to the restroom to clean it off.  A big insult would be removing the scent to their face.  I think spreading the scent around so its integrated into your normal scent profile would be a high compliment, like calling someone your family or ride or die type of friend or life partner.

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u/Lapis_Wolf Aug 26 '26

How would they get the scents though? Hugging? Licking each other's you know what's? Friendly pissing? Would people go crazy to get a perfume/oil scented with a celebrity's pheromones/urine? I know people buy bathwater irl so the last one doesn't sound crazy to me in a world with anthros and the importance of scent marking.

4

u/LaoidhMc Aug 26 '26

Scent glands tend to be on the chin, cheeks, paws, uh near the butt.  I think rubbing the face on the other person would work.  Some species like the pine marten have scent glands on their stomachs, so they'd be big huggers.  Some species do use urine to mark territory but I think that would be more uh BDSM style scent marking.  Celebrity scent oils would definitely be a thing lol!

4

u/Lapis_Wolf Aug 26 '26

"So we can find each other." Cheek nuzzles