Mothers prefer the smell of their own baby's dirty diapers.
13 mothers were asked to sniff soiled diapers belonging to both their own child and others from an unrelated baby. The women consistently ranked the smell of their own child's feces as less revolting than that of other babies.
One possible explanation is that the mothers were simply more accustomed to their their baby's stink and therefore found it less repulsive.
A more intriguing possibility, the researchers say, is that the mothers' reactions are an evolutionary adaptation allowing them to overcome their natural disgust so that they can properly care for their babies.
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