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Why do our nostrils point down while those of most mammals point straight out from their face? (cont.)

Gerald Legg

Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, UK

I read with interest the reasons previously suggested for why human nostrils point down rather than facing forward. As an undergraduate in the late 1960s, I was told that it was a result of our brains and upright posture. This is connected to the human foramen magnum – the opening in the base of the skull that allows the spinal cord to link to the brain – ending up oriented such that our neck bones ultimately…