Five unusual odours have been specially created for POO!, the new exhibition at Thackray Museum of Medicine and courtesy of AromaPrime.
AromaPrime, who have been creating smells for museums since the 1960s, were set the task of creating several poo pongs. However, it wasn’t just about creating a stink – each smell was carefully considered…
What to expect from a visit
Liam R. Findlay, AromaPrime’s Historical Scenting Consultant, developed the smells with direction from curator Dr Jack Gann.
One display features the smells of rhino poo, penguin poo and T-rex poo. Visitors are challenged to match which animals they belong to. The rhino poo smell is grassy, and the penguin poo smell is fishy, based on Liam’s first-hand sniffing at Chessington World of Adventures. Because fresh T-rex poo is no longer available to sniff, other evidence and theories were used to inform the recreation.
For example, Meredith Whitfield at Chicago’s Field Museum had previously suggested that T-rex poo might smell like hyena poo, due to the similar diets. Dr Jack Gann suggested that after occasional scavenging for already decomposing meals, like the hyena does, the T-rex would likely have had extra stinky poo. The final smell on display is potent and meaty.
“The POO! exhibition was designed to answer questions”
Another display focusses on skatole, a compound that helps give poo its recognisable odour. So, a human poo smell is featured, but also the smell of 1937 coronation anointing oil. The latter, delicious aroma helps share the fact that skatole is in some of the fanciest perfumes, as well as in poo. The recreation was based on the original oil’s ingredients, like jasmine and orange blossom.
Dr Gann also went down to the museum stores to see if he could catch a whiff from the original oil, telling Liam: “Sometimes, when you open boxes with all the old medication in, you’re hit with a powerful waft of chemical aromas – but the coronation oil is sealed with parafilm. There’s a hint of something orange blossom even so.”
Liam says: “All this information we could gather, from reading to firsthand sniffing, resulted in the final range of poo-inspired pongs. The POO! exhibition was designed to answer questions that children had asked Thackray Museum of Medicine.
“The smells, alongside the displays they are featured in, help answer the question ‘why does poo smell?’. Another of the questions was ‘what did T-rex poo smell like?’, which has hopefully been answered too!”
The smells can be experienced through interactive smell stations at the new POO! exhibition, which is open now until 4th January 2026.
Images: AromaPrime
