Prevalence
Non-primate mammals have usually apocrine sweat glands over most of their bodies. Horses use them as a thermoregulatory device, as they are regulated by adrenaline and more widely distributed on equines than on other groups. Skunks, on the other hand, use the glands to release a stench that acts as a defense mechanism.
The "axillary organs", limited regions with equal numbers of apocrine and eccrine sweat glands, only exist in humans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. In humans, the apocrine glands in this region are the most developed (with the most complex glomeruli). Men have fewer apocrine sweat glands than women in all axillary regions.
East Asians have fewer such glands than Europeans and people of African descent, which decreases their susceptibility to body odor. Individuals of African ancestry have the largest and most active apocrine glands. Racial differences also exist in the cerumen glands: apocrine sweat glands which produce earwax. East Asians have predominantly dry earwax, as opposed to sticky; the gene encoding for this is strongly linked to reduced body odor, whereas those with wet, sticky earwax (Europeans and Africans) are prone to more body odor.
Read more about this topic: Apocrine Sweat Gland
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