Did You Know Your Dog Had Superpowers? 🐕

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Speaker 1: Hi, science fans. Guess what. We are launching season four of sleep Tight Science this September, and we need your help to make it extra special. Did you know that your voice can be part of our show? We want to hear your amazing voices in our show opening. It's super easy and fun to join in. Just record yourself saying you are listening to sleep Tight Science. Then send your recording to the email address in our show notes. How cool is that. We can't wait to hear all your fantastic voices. Thank you for listening. You're listening to sleep Tight Science. Did you know o Cats have a special vocabulary just for their human friends. What Cats communicate with each other using different methods, but when they now it's just for humans. So whenever your cat meows at you, maybe they are saying, hey human, got any snacks? Hello friends, and welcome back to sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers your questions about science. This is our third season of the show and we are super excited to continue to learn new facts about science with you. Even though science is very exciting, we have changed some parts of the show to make it even more suitable for you at bedtime or when you want to relax and learn, so there will be fewer beeps and bops and more answers to your questions. If you have any questions, ask your parents to help you write us via email and we will try to answer them during the show. In this episode, we will start talking about one of our favorite animals, the dog. In our episode do you Know about Animals Supersensus, we introduced all kinds of supersensus that animals have. Did you know that dogs have a remarkable sense of smell thanks to the millions of scent receptors in their noses. Their noses aren't just for booping. Dogs can detect sense at incredibly low concentrations, making them perfect for tracking, search and rescue, and even detecting diseases like cancer. They are truly super sniffers. So in this episode, we will talk about the history of the dog, answer your questions, learn more about their nose, and finish with some fun facts. Let's first start at the beginning. Did you know that dogs and wolves are like long lost cousins. A long long time ago, maybe thousands and thousands of years, there weren't any Golden retrievers or poodles running around. No chihuahuas. Either, the ancestors of today's dogs were wild, fierce wolves, and back in those days, our human ancestors were hunter gatherers, groups of people who survived primarily by hunting animals and gathering plants for food, rather than producing food through agriculture or raising livestock. This also meant that they tended to move around a great deal in search of something to eat. But how did dogs go from wild wolves to wagging tails? Some wild wolves began hanging around human camps hoping for a scrap or two. If a wolf was a little less aggressive and was cool with being around humans, it had a chance to snatch up some leftovers. Would your friends give you cookies if you tried to bite them? Humans noticed something. The less aggressive wolves were useful. They could alert humans to danger with their keen sense of hearing and smell, and soon enough the humans realized that wolves could help them. As time passed, the friendlish wolves and the humans began to team up. More and more humans might share food, and in return, the wolves would help protect the camp or even help with hunting. This teamwork was so awesome that the friendlier wolves had more babies, and those babies were also cool with humans. Over generations and generations, these wolves evolved and started to look and act less like wild wolves and more like dogs. They became domesticated. Domesticated this means that an animal has been tamed and made fit to live with humans. Scientists have discovered that this dog human friendship started around twenty thousand to forty thousand years ago, and by studying doggye DNA, we've learned that all the various dog breeds we know and love today likely originated from wolves in what's now known as Eastern Asia. As humans traveled and settled in various parts of the world, they took their furry bodies with them. Different environments and jobs led to the need for different types of dogs. In cold areas, people needed thick fur dogs to pull sleds. In the mountains, they wanted big, strong dogs to guard flocks near the water. Retrieving dogs came in handy. Through careful selection and breeding, humans encouraged the development of specific traits in dogs over a long long time. This led to the hundreds of dog breeds we have today, from tiny Chihuahuahs to big and fluffy Newfoundlanders. Did you know that dogs in ancient Egypt were revered and cherished. They were often depicted in art and hieroglyphics. Many Egyptian gods and goddesses were depicted with canine features, like a Nubis, the god of mummification and the Afterlife, who had the head of a jackal. So far, we have learned a little about the history of dogs and how they became our best friends, protectors, and lazy buddies on the couch. But what about some science behind their senses. How do dog senses compare to humans. Let's start with vision. Dogs see the world a bit differently than we do. Ever, wonder why so many dog toys are often blue or yellow. That's because dogs are not colorblind, as some people think, but they do see fewer colors than humans. They see the world mainly in blues and yellows, but can't perceive the full spectrum of colors like we do. But they're way better at detecting motion at a distance. Remember that the next time you are trying to play hide and seek. In terms of hearing, dogs have us beat by a mile or a kilometer for those of us who use the metric system. While humans can hear sounds between twenty and twenty thousand herts. Dogs can detect frequencies between forty and sixty thousand herts. That's why they can hear those dog whistles that sound silent to us. It's like they have a built in superpower. What would you do if you could have hearing like a dog. As far as taste goes, dogs have fewer taste buds than we do, around one thousand, seven hundred compared to our nine thousand. Ever, wonder why they eat stuff we find gross well. Their sense of taste isn't as discerning as ours. This certainly explains a lot. Dogs will eat just about anything, but their strong sense of smell more than makes up for it in the food department. Next, dogs are pretty sensitive to touch, especially in certain areas like their backs and the bases of their tails. They also use their whiskers to detect changes in their surroundings. Have you noticed how your dog might shake off when stressed or after something intense happens. That's one way they deal with overwhelming sensations. Dogs are, in many ways sensory superheroes. Their heightened abilities help them navigate the world in ways that are sometimes beyond our human comprehension. But we have left one sense out, their sense of smell. Okay, this one is just mind blowing. The dog's sense of smell is phenomenal. If our sense of smell was a small flashlight, a dog's would be like the bat signal. To truly grasp the extent of a dog's olfactory power, we must first understand the anatomy behind it. The human nose has about six million olfactory receptors, specialized proteins that detect odor molecules. Depending on the breed, the dog's nose contains up to three hundred million of these receptors. But it's not just about the sheer number of receptors. Once the odor molecules are detected, the information travels to the brain. Here proportionately, the section of the dog's brain dedicated to analyzing odors is about forty times larger than ours. This combination of a vast number of receptors and a significant chunk of the brain devoted to smell provides dogs with an all factory ability, estimated to be anywhere from ten thousand to one hundred thousand times more sensitive than humans. Don't be confused with the word all factory. Olfactory is a fancy science word about everything related to your sense of smell. Dogs don't just smell things, they dissect sense. Imagine walking into a bakery. You would likely smell the sweet aroma of fresh pastry, but a dog, they would smell each individual ingredient, the flour, the yeast, the sugar, the berries, even the wood of the table where the pastries lay. Additionally, dogs possess a Jacobsen's organ or the vomboronasal organ, which detects pheromones, the chemicals produced by living beings to communicate socially. This adds another layer to their olfactory perception, allowing them to sense emotions or even the physical state of other animals, so they know how you feel and exactly what you ate. Dogs use their sense of smell in a number of different ways. Through sense, especially in their pea and poop, dogs communicate all kinds of information to other dogs, everything from their gender, age, and mood to what they've recently eaten. Yach As we might use landmarks to find our way, dogs use scents to map their environments. Have you ever noticed a dog's ritual of sniffing around before choosing the perfect spot to relieve themselves they're reading the scented news of the area. Dogs also use their sense of smell to be our detectives from search and rescue operations where dogs can detect the faintest humans scent under rubble or snow, to police work detecting drugs or explosives, and even in medical fields, with some dogs trained to sniff out certain cancers or predict epileptic seizures. Dogs evolve from wolves, and like their wild ancestors, domesticated dogs use their noses to hunt and forage, tracking down potential food sources or detecting threats. Just try hiding those potato chips. Dogs know they are in the cupboard, they just can't open the door yet. Lastly, dogs are experts at reading their human companions, and much of this comes from their ability to smell our changes in mood, health, or even if we're sweating more due to stress or fear. From an evolutionary standpoint, a keen sense of smell has been crucial for a dog's survival, while human evolution leaned heavily towards sight as we climbed trees and later walked on two legs to see over tall grasses, the cane eye lineage burrowed and hunted where the olfactory cues were key. Over thousands of years, this intricate relationship with smell persisted and was homed even as dogs were domesticated and diversified into the multitude of breeds we know today. Dogs indeed are our super friends. Now for some listeners questions, Eddie, aged seven from North Carolina asks why puppy teeth are so sharp. Puppies have really small jaws and not a lot of strengthen them yet, so gave them the super sharp teeth to help them out. These pointy needle like teeth can easily pierce and grab onto things without much force. This makes it easier for them to bite into their food, play with toys, and learn about their world. But those super sharp puppy teeth actually fall out, just like how you lose your baby teeth and get adult teeth. Puppies will eventually get bigger and stronger teeth as they grow up, so those sharp teeth are like the puppies starter set, helping them discover the world around them. Thank you for your question, Eddie. Next, we have a question from James, who is five and is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. James asks why do cats use litter box but dogs do not? Cats and dogs have tabits when it comes to bathroom behaviors rooted in their unique natures and evolutionary backgrounds. Cats have a deep rooted instinct to bury their waste. This behavior traces back to their wild ancestors, who buried their waiste to hide from predators and effectively hunt prey. Offering a litter box caters to this instinct, giving them a designated place to bury. Cats also cherish cleanliness. They appreciate a consistent clean spot for their needs, which a well maintained litter box offers. Dogs are a bit different. Dogs use their waist more openly as they're inclined to mark territory. They also use their p and poo to communicate with other dogs. While cats often stay indoors, dogs benefit from outdoor time both for bathroom needs and exercise. Potty breaks double as exploration and physical activity essential for their well being. So while litter boxes align with cat's natural preferences and indoor lifestyles, dogs typically venture outside, blending their bathroom routines with their love of exploration. Thank you, James, next, Maggie, who is five and from Iowa, asks why do cats purr? Cats have a magical way of expressing themselves through purring. Often, when a cat purs it's a sign of happiness and comfort, like when they're cozily lounging in a sunbeam or receiving gentle strokes from their favorite human. Kittens even use purring as a way to communicate with their mothers when they're nursing, signaling that all is well. However, a cat's purr isn't always about contentment. Some cats might purr when they're in pain or not feeling their best, possibly as a way to soothe themselves. There's also an intriguing idea among scientists that the vibrations from a cat's purr might help with healing. On top of that, a purring cat might be trying to get your attention or express stress or fear. So while the most common reason we think of cat's purring as happiness, they might also feel a bit sick or just want an extra treat. Thank you for the question, Maggie. Our last and loudest question comes from Grant, who asks what is the loudest fart ever recorded? This is a question we don't have a real answer for, but we did read that the loudest fart ever recorded was one hundred and ninety four decibels. It was produced by Paul Oldfield, a professional farter who performs flatulence related acts for entertainment. One hundred and ninety four decibels would be incredibly loud, equivalent to a significant explosion, So, like a good scientist, you might want to find multiple sources to confirm or try your own experiment. Thank you grant fun Facts. Did you know that just as humans have unique fingerprints, each dog's nose print is one of a kind. It can be used to identify them. Ever, wonder why dogs have wet noses. The moisture helps them absorb scent chemicals, making their super sniffing skills even more impressive. Did you know that cats can make over one hundred different sounds. While dogs might bark and howl, a cat has a symphony of mews, purs, hisses, and chirps. It's like they're trying to talk to us in their own secret code. Dogs experience rapid eye movement, rem sleep the stage where dreaming happens, just like humans. So when your pups pause twitch in their sleep. Ours used to run when he slept on his side. They might be dreaming of chasing squirrels. Did you know, stepping beyond dogs for a moment, that the star nosed mole is one of the fastest eaters in the animal kingdom. It can find and eat food in just two hundred and twenty seven milliseconds, quicker than you can blink. Did you know that the Basenji dog breed doesn't bark like most dogs. Instead, they make a unique sound called a burrow, a mix between a yodel and a howl. Imagine having a dog that serenades you with a song instead of the usual bark. In this episode, we learned about dogs and their superpowers. They have a remarkable sense of smell that can help them detect sense that we can't even smell, and this helps them with tracking, search and rescue, and even discovering diseases. Dogs can also detect motion that we cannot, even though they cannot see as many colors as we do. They have superhering and can hear sounds that we can't, like those dog whistles. When you talk about taste, dogs have fewer taste buds than we do, so they are not as picky as some of us are with what they eat. We also discussed how our pet dogs came from wolves who were tamed by humans. Over time, humans noticed how helpful these tamish wolves were and fed them to them around and one thing led to another. We also learned why Puppy's teeth are so sharp, why cats use litter boxes but dogs don't, why cats per, and what was the loudest fart ever recorded. This episode was made with questions from Eddie age seven from North Carolina, James who is five and is from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Maggie who is five and from Iowa, and grant thank you to Yasmine age five from Wellington, New Zealand, Bihan Daga age six from California, Annie age four, and Zeke age seven, Madeleine Menzies who is seven from Ketchum, Idaho, Carter age four and a half from Nanaimo, BC, Canada, uh Jude age four from Doncaster in the UK, Ivy Miranda age six from San Paulo, Brazil, Preston age eight from Central New Jersey, Magnolia age seven from Colorado, Reese age eight from Scotland Miller, age five from Barry, Ontario, Canada, Hannah Sibille, age five from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Danielle. We love getting your feedback on our show. If you have any feedback, please send it our way, and if you never want to miss an episode, please ask your parents to subscribe. You can find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever your parents listen to podcasts. And please, if you love learning about science with us, take a moment to leave us a review. It may help others find our show. And if you'd like to send your questions, please send them to Hello at sleeptightescience dot com. Thank you, sleep Tite