July 2004 – Volume 6 – Number 3
Research and Technology
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Unique Odor in Identical Twins
The issue of genetic makeup and human odor was studied using scent-discriminating canines and scent collected from three sets of twins. The test subjects included fraternal twin baby boys on the same diet, identical twin baby boys on the same diet, and identical adult twins on different diets. Dogs were able to correctly identify the fraternal baby twins on identical diets and the identical adults twins on different diets, 89 and 83.5 percent respectively. The dogs were able to correctly identify the identical twins on the same diet only 49 percent, which is no better than chance (Hepper 1994).
It was found in scent lineup tests when the scent of identical twins is offered to dogs in succession, the dogs could not differentiate between the twins. In tracking experiments in which two scents are offered simultaneously and mixed up, the dogs were able to distinguish between the two identical twins (Kalmus 1955). These studies show that dogs can differentiate between identical twins, especially when the twins are living apart. However, discrimination is more difficult when the differences were genetic (Schoon and Haak 2002A)...
MeBO Research
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