Why Do Dogs Sniff Each Other's Butts?
- 7 years ago
It may seem strange that dogs get to know other canines by sniffing their rear ends, but researchers have largely figured out why the behavior happens.
It may seem strange that dogs get to know other canines by sniffing their rear ends, but researchers have largely figured out why the behavior happens.
One element involves the animals’ nose which has been estimated to contain nearly 60 times the number of receptors that human noses do.
The extra sensors, which are located on a membrane in the snout, mean dogs can smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than people can.
And, in terms of rear ends being an initial target for exploration, researchers have found that this area in dogs contains anal sacs which secrete chemical messages about their gender, health, and emotional state, among other important information.
In fact, Dr. Elizabeth Stelow with the University of California, Davis, told The Dodo that the scent can be used to determine whether a fellow dog is “behaviorally competent versus awkward.”
“Depending on what they find, it may affect what they do next (play, show aggression, urine mark nearby, initiate courtship, walk away, etc)," Stelow further noted.
Also helping dogs communicate with each other are scent glands on the bottoms of their paws and an anatomical feature called Jacobson’s organ which filters out odors to send important chemical cues to the brain.
It may seem strange that dogs get to know other canines by sniffing their rear ends, but researchers have largely figured out why the behavior happens.
One element involves the animals’ nose which has been estimated to contain nearly 60 times the number of receptors that human noses do.
The extra sensors, which are located on a membrane in the snout, mean dogs can smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than people can.
And, in terms of rear ends being an initial target for exploration, researchers have found that this area in dogs contains anal sacs which secrete chemical messages about their gender, health, and emotional state, among other important information.
In fact, Dr. Elizabeth Stelow with the University of California, Davis, told The Dodo that the scent can be used to determine whether a fellow dog is “behaviorally competent versus awkward.”
“Depending on what they find, it may affect what they do next (play, show aggression, urine mark nearby, initiate courtship, walk away, etc)," Stelow further noted.
Also helping dogs communicate with each other are scent glands on the bottoms of their paws and an anatomical feature called Jacobson’s organ which filters out odors to send important chemical cues to the brain.