"Mammals require a great deal of oil to keep their fur coats healthy. Lacking fur, you nonetheless produce great amounts of skin oil, principally a substance known as sebum. A grown human may produce as much sebum as 1.45 mg/10 sq cm/3 hr.; that is, approximately 10 tablespoons of sebum per 4 square inches of skin over 3 hours.
As you would expect, this creates an environment rife with bacteria and fungi. The resulting smell and texture is quite noxious to us, seeping through even the heaviest clothing eventually. Mammals crawling on us coat our sensory hairs with the stuff, causing most of my people to find you rather... repugnant."
As you would expect, this creates an environment rife with bacteria and fungi. The resulting smell and texture is quite noxious to us, seeping through even the heaviest clothing eventually. Mammals crawling on us coat our sensory hairs with the stuff, causing most of my people to find you rather... repugnant."
—Professor Gregorsa, Humans-B-Gone!
I remember the extraordinary smells they gave off as they peered at us — you know the human stench already and how horrible it is to animal nostrils.
— Stray
