They discover an unknown meaning in dogs’ noses

A scientific study conducted jointly by two international universities discovered a heretofore unknown ability to dogs: can detect heat with his nose.

Although dogs were already famous for their olfactory sense, 50 times greater than that of humans, since they have between 125 and 220 million olfactory cells in their nose, this novelty would explain why those who have problems with sight, smell or hearing can hunt successfully.

This animal species is used by security forces around the world for its remarkable traceability, which can detect drugs that enter an airport to find a missing person. They are also trained to search for wild fungi or to eradicate pests. This keen sense allows dogs to identify their gender, age, and even whether or not they are fertile in the pee of other dogs.

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But now we also know that could detect a person or another animal without looking at it or sniffing it, simply feeling its heat. This was discovered by a study conducted by researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, and that in Lund, Sweden, which was published in the trade journal Scientific reports.

The trigger that caught the attention of scientists was how a dog, with poor eyesight and a bad smell, could hunt without difficulty. As the authors of the book revealed, the reason why dogs can detect thermal radiation it’s because the tip of your nose is not smooth, as in most mammals, but it’s rough, wet, this colder than the ambient temperature and full of nerves. In the animal kingdom, there are few species capable of detecting thermal radiation, including some species of beetles, snakes and bats.

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The researchers studied the behaviors and characteristics of three dogs. They had the choice between an object at 31 ° C and an object at room temperature, located 1.6 meters from each other. As they sniffed them, they had an MRI and, in this way, it was possible to discover that the left side of your cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for processing sensory information from the nose, was more sensitive to hot thermal stimulus than neutral.

Wolves, the possible origin of this ability

The researchers suggested in their report that the origin of this unprecedented ability in dogs could have been inherited from their ancestors, Wolves.

As stated, this species would share this meaning and I would use it to detect hot bodies during hunts. However, it is not yet clear whether domestic dogs also share this function or whether it is performed only by wild animals, which need it for their survival. Therefore, experts assume that more research is needed to be able to verify this point.

For the authors of the study, the already known olfactory ability of dogs combined with the ability to detect thermal radiation could explain why wild dogs and wolves have historically dominated forests, even managing to outdo large predators such as lions. .