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A woman passes by killed al-Shabaab fighters in Mpekatoni, Kenya June 15, 2015. Kenya's army said it killed a regional commander from Somalia's al-Shabaab group, and possibly also a Briton who joined the militants, in fighting over the weekend. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Research suggests that humans respond to the smell of death the same way as animals, treating it as an external threat that ensures survival. Animals release an unpleasant odour when they die, created partly by putrescine, a chemical compound released by the decomposition of fatty acids present in the putrefying tissue of dead bodies. This smell of death triggers a “fight-or-flight” response in humans- a reaction similar to animals.

“These are the first results to show that a specific chemical compound (putrescine) can be processed as a threat signal; thus far, nearly all the evidence for threat chemosignals has come from those that are transmitted by body sweat,” wrote the scientists on the study, published on Frontiers in Psychology.

Scent is elemental to survival in the animal kingdom. Studies have shown that putrescine functions as a chemosensory signal that alerts animals to avoid or leave an area. Humans respond to scents in similar ways, usually resulting in sharpened reactions and increased vigilance in preparation for fight-or-flight. A series of four experiments were conducted by exposing participants, unconsciously or consciously, to putrescine. Their behaviours were observed and then compared to participants who were exposed to other scents.

Researchers explained that “flight” is the more common human response as opposed to popular belief that “fight” is the preferred reaction to threat, reports Medical Daily. To establish their point, the scientists cited a research that observed people choosing to distance themselves on being confronted by a threatening stranger; they only chose verbal and physical aggression when the get-away-option was impossible.

Arnaud Wisman, co-author on the study and psychologist at the University of Kent, and Ilan Shrira, co-author and visiting assistant professor of psychology at Arkansas Tech University, said, “We do not know why we like (or dislike) someone’s smell, and we’re usually not aware of how scent influences our emotions, preferences, and attitudes,” reports Medical Daily. “It is hard to think of a scent as frightening.”

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