Fire was one of the most important discoveries in human evolutionary history. Many researchers believe it was a key development that led to modern humans. However, do our closest relatives control and use fire?
People on hunting forums talk about how one of the reasons Indians were such great hunters is they ritually danced in smoke before a hunting trip (not to mention living in a tent with a fire in the middle). There is some information on scentsmoker.com which sells a device for hunters to smoke clothes with. There is also a massive amount of speculation, and anecdotal evidence about hunters having animals with spectacular senses of smell, such as deer and pigs downwind at close ranges without spooking when they had "smoked up". I can't give any references other than that though :/
Hey Cadell, great article! I wish I was a scientist, I'm rather fascinated by it. I read a great deal based on my hobby interest, and I have come across something I have never seen published as a human benefit of fire. On Quora I listed 10 distinct evolutionary advantages to fire, and how I believe mastering fire may have been one of the greatest evolutionary leaps since animal life first moved to the land, because mastering fire nearly instantly elevated us above and out competition with other animals, and quickly into competition with other humans. A few hundred thousand years of that and you have the difference between modern humans and any other animals. https://www.quora.com/What-makes-humans-so-different-from-the-rest-of-the-species-on-the-planet/answer/Steve-McKerracher
Most of which I'm sure you are familiar with but I haven't read about the scent control advantage fire gave our ancestors in scientific literature. In the last couple years its been trending huge in bowhunting circles, many people swear its more effective than of the commercial brands of scent control. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any studies at all, its all speculation and anecdotal. It's speculated that the chemicals in the smoke actually kill the bacteria that causes body oder. Or that its such a heavy powerful scent it overwhelms the human scent, but then others point out that many prey animals like deer can detect multiple odors at once, and that simply "cover scents" aren't that effective, and yet smoke is. If anyone actually studies this issue and finds smoke DOES mask human scent, that would definitely have evolutionary implications! Not only benefits to hunting, but also protection from predators that trail based on scent, such as wolves.
And possible benefits to reproduction as well, as smoky people smell better than excessive body odor?
the BBC piece is a hoax. see http://mushroomobserver.org/123334
Wow. If that is accurate the BBC definitely has some explaining to do. Either way, I think it stimulated any interesting question about the ability of chimpanzees to control fire!