After rubbing a particularly good belly, the dog nose In words of gratitude, to humans often this snout boop feels cold and moist. The owner will be wondering. Is it normal for your dog’s nose to feel this way?
The answer is yes, it is normal. But especially warm noses after drowsiness, said Anna Bálint, a researcher studying animal behavior at the University of Eötvös Loránd in Budapest, Hungary. “When a dog sleeps, it usually warms and drys his nose,” she told Live Science. Then the dog wakes up, licks his nose and catches a cold again.
But why is a dog’s nose cold and beneficial?
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One idea is that a dog’s cold nose can help furry animals regulate their body temperature. But the tip of the nose is too small to make a meaningful contribution to the dog’s overall temperature control, Bálint said.
For further investigation, the international team of scientists Nose temperature in many animals, Horse, dog and moose included. When Bálint was involved in the project, the team already found out that dogs and predators’ nose tips or rhinos were generally cooler than herbivores. Perhaps a cooler nose tip could be an advantage in the wild, the researchers thought.
The research team conducted two experiments. One looked at the behavior and the other examined the brain to see if the cold linarium could do better heat detection. In the first experiment, the team successfully trained three dogs, allowing them to choose a warmer object at about the same temperature as the potential prey over an object at room temperature. The results indicate that the dog can detect weak thermal radiation at a distance similar to that of prey.
Second, in a brain-centric investigation, scientists presented insulated doors to 13 dogs trained to lie down in a box of warm water and functionality. MRI scanner. The dog’s brain was more responsive when the insulated door was opened, revealing a warmer surface compared to the neutral one. The illuminated area on the MRI is only in the left hemisphere. Bálint says it’s attracting scientists’ attention because this side of the brain tends to process reactions to food, Bálint said. Certain areas of light in dogs (called the somatosensory cortex) help to gather a variety of sensations such as vision, body position, and warmth, he added. This part of the brain combines these sensations simultaneously to plan actions towards a goal, such as targeting an object.
Given that this left nerve area is brightened when the tip of the nose is exposed to a warm surface, dogs and other cold nosed animals can use the heat sensing sensation along with other sensations in the’hunting toolbox’. ‘As they chase prey, the researchers said.
Although a recent study was published in the journal February 2020 Scientific reportBálint said it was too small to close the case tightly with a cold nose, Bálint said a cold nose could be more sensitive to temperature differences. “People think that the dog follows the sense of smell [sense of smell]Bálint is probably really true. However, windy conditions or stormy weather can make it difficult for a working dog to keep up with the smell. “The heat signal can help them.”
So, why is your dog’s nose cold? Bálint and her team are constantly looking for answers to this question. Now they are wondering at what distances this type of heat sensing could be useful. Now I only know the nose of a dog.
Originally published in Live Science.