Even after living together for thousands of years, we’re still learning more about dogs and their supernatural senses. In this case, a February 2020 study published in Scientific Reports details how dogs sense heat through their noses.
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Analyzing Heat Vision
Plenty of animals sense infrared radiation from heat. Some examples include pythons, boas, frogs, and certain beetles. Until now, however, researchers believed that the only mammal capable of this extrasensory feat were vampire bats.
That is, until researchers at Lund University and Eötvös Loránd University, home of the Family Dog Project, came along. They noted that the cool, wet skin on a dog’s nose, called the rhinarium, is dense with nerve endings. In turn, the team wondered if dogs have a sensory function in their noses that we aren’t aware of.
To test their theory, the research team trained three dogs to choose between an ambient-temperature object and a warm object. The dogs could not see or smell any differences between the objects during the double-blind study. Incredibly, all three dogs successfully found the warm objects.
Diving further, the team also used MRI to scan 13 dogs’ brains while showing them objects with either weak or neutral thermal radiation. The dogs all showed a significant neural response to the weakly radiating object. Specifically, the left somatosensory cortex responded to the thermal radiation but did not respond to the neutral object.
A Piece of the Puzzle
The results of the study show that dogs’ noses register weak heat signals with a direct link to a specific brain region. Dogs likely inherited the trait from ancestral wolves who would’ve benefitted from such a trait while hunting.
The implications are significant, especially considering the prevalence of dogs used in search and rescue scenarios.
Ronald Krӧger, one of the study’s researchers, states, “the dog’s nose must be cold to be able to find a warm human body. Our results indicate that you shouldn’t choose dogs that cannot cool their nose due to breeding. Also, training dogs could be more effective if heat was used in addition to smell.”
On an interesting note: Ronald’s Golden Retriever, Kevin, took part in the study.
The study is strong evidence that dogs can sense heat, but researchers say further studies will show the extent of this ability.
