And why do these two hunter-gatherer groups have so many? Interesting questions and article from The Atlantic, on the research of Asifa Majid from Radboud University in the Netherlands on the Jahai people of Malaysia and the Maniq of Thailand. (Majid’s work was featured earlier this year in a piece by The Economist.) But perhaps another way to look at it is via this excellent post from Dr. Avery Gilbert on The Alleged Limitations of Olfactory Language.
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/the-vocabulary-of-smell/414618/