Dogs are able to sense heat through infrared sensors in their nose: Study

Dogs are known for their extraordinary sniffing power. As per an article on Carecredit, they have a strong sense of smell which is nearly 10000 to 100000 times more potent than the human nose. They have almost 50 times more smell receptors in their nose than a human. Apart from their strong sense of smell, dogs are also able to sense heat. A new study published on Nature website on 28th February 2020 confirms that dogs indeed have heat-sensing power.

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How can dogs sense heat?

As per the newly published research paper from a team of scientists at the Lund University in Sweden and Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, dogs can sense heat through their noses.

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The team found that the naked and wet surface on the tip of a dog's nose helps them sniff heat. Their nose tips are filled with nerve endings. These nerves are very sensitive.

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According to a report of the science mag, the team of scientists used golden retrievers and border collies as their test subjects. According to the report, the team trained three pet dogs, including a golden retriever, to choose two different objects with different temperatures. Among these objects, one was a warm object with a surface temperature of 31 degrees C and another with ambient temperature. The objects were placed 1.6 meters away, and the dogs could not smell or see these objects. The three dogs completed their training. The team of scientists used double-blind experiments after training and found that all three were able to find the objects without any error.

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The scientists then scanned the brains of 13 different dog breeds to find more about their heat-sensing power. They found that a dog's brain's left somatosensory cortex, which gets inputs from a dog's nose, became more active to warm thermal rays.

The scientists found that the 14 voxels(3D pixels) present in a dog's brain's left hemisphere helped them find infrared rays and identify thermal heat.

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This study proved that dogs are also able to sense weak hot spots and the team thinks that they might have inherited this power from their ancestor, the grey wolf.