There is always a situation that makes the dog tears!

Text ｜ Feng Weiwei

A new study shows that when the dogs are reunited, dogs often tearful.

Related studies have recently published in "Contemporary Biology".

"We find that dogs will cry because of positive emotions." Said the Takefumi Kikusui at the University of Mabu University in Japan, "We also find that oxytocin may be one of the mechanisms of action."

Kikusui and colleagues have previously discovered that when a poodle feeds the puppy, the face will change on the face -tears in the eyes. "This reminds me of oxytocin that may increase tears." Oxytocin is a kind of "love hormone."

Researchers also learned from early observations that dogs and owners will release oxytocin when interacting. They decided to perform experiments to see if this chemical can make dogs cry.

First of all, the researchers measured the amount of tears before and after the reunion of the dog and the owner with a standard. Compared to unfamiliar people, the dog's tears increased when reunited with familiar people.

When researchers joined oxytocin, the dog's tears increased.

The discovery supports such a view that when a dog and the owner reunite, the release of oxytocin plays a role in tears.

Researchers also let people score dog photos.

It was found that when people saw the dog crying, they would give a more positive response. This indicates that the dog's tears help strengthen the connection between people and dogs.

Kikusui said, "Dogs who cry when interacting with the owner may be more cared for by the owner."

Although they found that the dog would cry in a "happy" situation, the researchers did not know whether they were crying when they were sad, and they did not know whether the dogs and other dogs would cry when they reunited.

They want to understand whether this reaction has social functions in the world of dogs.

Related thesis information:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.20222.07.031

"China Science News" (2022-08-29 The original title of the 2nd edition of the international title "Reunion with the host, the dog will cry with joy")

Edit | Zhao Lu

Capture | Guo Gang

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