When you purchase through links on our web site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it sour .
If you ’ve ever known a hot dog , you ’ve likely had this experience : You ’re sitting out by a kitty on a live day , throwing a control stick for your canine familiar . Fido fetch it , then comes right up to you , give you a doggy grin and shakes frigid water all over your dry clothes .
Scientists have finally figured out whydogsdo this shake . According to newfangled enquiry , the " wet dog shake " is the fault of a sense organ in mammal peel call C - LTMR . And it do furry beast of all sorts , from heel to Arabian tea to mouse , to perform a surprisingly consistent handshake when shake by droplet of liquid on the back of the neck .
A receptor in mammal skin appears to be responsible for triggering the “wet dog shake."
" It ’s a complicated demeanor , " said Dawei Zhang , who co - authored the enquiry as a doctoral scholarly person at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of Harvard Medical School . The study was published today ( Nov. 7 ) in the journalScience . Across somebody and species , Zhang told Live Science , brute lean to shake at the same frequency and with a standardized pattern of turns — commonly three back - and - off milkshake at a time — and no one knew what receptor and nerve were responsible .
New genic tools enable Zhang and fellow worker to find oneself out , but discover the culprit for the shake took a routine of detective work . First , the researchers created genetic mutations in mice that would knock out either the channels in skin receptor that discover mechanically skillful military unit , or the receptors that detect temperature change . They found that mice without the ability to detect temperature change still shook when droplets of oil were sprinkled on the backs of their necks ( the most dependable direction to trigger a " wet dog " shake ) . But mice without mechanoreceptor channel did n’t shake .
So Zhang and his team focus on mechanoreceptors , get across their activity in response to oil droplets . They constringe down their focus to three sensory receptor , all of which respond to very light touch . Next , they used a proficiency yell optogenetics to activate specific receptor on the pelt with light . With this technique , they could trigger the individual mettle eccentric without any limpid stimulus .
The results were readable : When the investigator excite a type of nerve called C - fiber crushed - limen mechanoreceptors ( C - LTMRs ) , the shiner shook as if they ’d been give a sudden shower . To treble - check , the researchers engineered mouse without C - LTMRs and see that they shook 58 % less than normal mice when drizzled with piss .
100 - LTMRs have long been something of a enigma , Zhang said . They were suspected of create ticklish sensations in animals based on research conducted 80 years ago , he say , but it was n’t clean-cut how brute experience the stimulus . In human , related mechanoreceptors promise degree centigrade - mechanoreceptors have been associated with enjoyable , brush touches on the skin .
C - LTMRs transmit signal from the follicle of the undercoat of furry animals , so the new study suggest they ’re specialized for detecting tiny , annoying stimulus like crawling sponge or drops of water , Zhang say : " Essentially , it ’s a justificatory system to get rid of potentially harmful stimuli that ’s on their fur . "
— Dogs can smell their humans ' stress , and it make them sad
— ' Puppy eyes ' did n’t develop just for humans , study of wild dogs finds
— Dog imagination : What colors can dogs see ?
Whether humans , with their pelt - loose skin , have any vestige of this shaking reception is an open dubiousness . " I used to give the solvent that humans use a towel to dry out themselves , " Zhang said . But there is a common shiver reaction to light touch on the back of the neck in man — it ’s just not percipient whether that shiver is link to what a wet dog might finger before it shake .
" It ’s difficult to correlate whether this is an evolutionary mathematical product of the gnawer or furry animal ' tight bounder ' milkshake , " Zhang said . " Maybe it is , mayhap it ’s not . "
Another undischarged mystery : Why do bounder have to get right up to you to shake themselves dry ? That one may try out more difficult to work .
Dogs may have tame themselves because they really wish snacks , fashion model intimate
Smarter dogs have small-scale brains , surprising study uncover
Was it a rock instrument or just a rock ? An archeologist explain how scientist can tell the difference
