0
0
We at Pugpalooza have written several blog posts on how a dog’s sense of smell is literally a superpower.
But it continues to amaze us – especially with the latest scientific findings.
Researchers at Cornell University in New York found that a dog’s sense of smell is actually “integrated” with their vision and other parts of its brain, reports ScienceDaily.
This means their noses are critical to how they process and navigate the world. This is quite different to how most humans operate.
When people enter a room, they typically use their vision to assess the situation, figure out who and what is in the room, etc. Dogs instead use BOTH their noses and eyes to get the “lay of the land.” Their sense of smell is crucial to how they learn about their environment and orient themselves, according to the research.
A dog’s sense of smell is up to 100,000 times better than humans, according to PetMD. As one veterinarian put it, that is like detecting “the equivalent of a 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.”
The findings back up researchers’ clinical observations of blind dogs, which can learn to play fetch and navigate their worlds better than a human might with the same condition. They also “found connections where the brain processes memory and emotion, which are similar to those in humans, as well as never-documented connections to the spinal cord and the occipital lobe that are not found in humans,” reports ScienceDaily.
So the next time you see your pooch curiously sniffing around the park, relax. That’s just he or she figuring things out. That nose is a powerful navigation and processing device. It’s a big part of what makes dogs the amazing creatures they are!
Until next time,
Hugs and Pug Kisses,
Candy
Sources and Links:
New links found between dogs’ smell and vision — ScienceDaily
8 Dog Nose Facts You Probably Didn’t Know | PetMD
Photo by Fabian Gieske on Unsplash
