Why do wet dogs shake themselves dry? Neuroscience has an answer
www.nature.com
Deciphering how mammals respond to sensations through their fur could inspire further research on skin sensitivity.

When a dog shakes water off its fur, the action is not just a random flurry of movements — nor a deliberate effort to drench anyone standing nearby.

This instinctive reflex is shared by many furry mammals including mice, cats, squirrels, lions, tigers and bears. The move helps animals to remove water, insects or other irritants from hard-to-reach places. But underlying the shakes is a complex — and previously mysterious — neurological mechanism.

Now, researchers have identified the neural circuit that triggers characteristic ‘wet dog’ shaking behaviour in mice — which involves a specific class of touch receptors, and neurons that connect the spinal cord to the brain. Their findings were published in Science on 7 November.

“The touch system is so complex and rich that [it] can distinguish a water droplet from a crawling insect from the gentle touch of a loved one,” says Kara Marshall, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. “It’s really remarkable to be able to link a very specific subset of touch receptors to this familiar and understandable behaviour.”

Research article was featured on the cover of this issue of Science, with a glorious picture of a brown bear doing the “wet dog shake” (https://www.science.org/toc/science/current)

Research article: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq8834

Please let me know if there is paywall

  • angrystego@lemmy.world
    8·
    6 days ago

    I share your frustration with the election result. I’d like to point out that venting it on strangers and making others more miserable is not the healthy way to go about it.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      3·
      6 days ago

      I would willingly trade all of my health for an effective way to engage these willfully ignorant dipshits.

      This is the core problem humanity faces.

      It’s what allowed a child raping demented toddler to become the commander-in-chief of the most powerful military the universe has ever known. For the second time.

      https://howtobeastoic.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/one-crucial-word/

      “The higher, pretentious form of stupidity stands only too often in crass opposition to [its] honorable form. It is not so much lack of intelligence as failure of intelligence, for the reason that it presumes to accomplishments to which it has no right … The stupidity this addresses is no mental illness, yet it is most lethal; a dangerous disease of the mind that endangers life itself. … [S]ince the ‘higher stupidity’ consists not in an inability to understand but in a refusal to understand, any healing or reversal of it will not occur through rational argumentation, through a greater accumulation of data and knowledge, or through experiencing new and different feelings … We may say that the reversal of a spiritual sickness must entail a spiritual cure.”

      • Fleur_@lemm.eeEnglish
        6·
        6 days ago

        I would like to take the time to point out that I am not an American, am a socialist and am quite astounded by the meltdown this throwaway garbage comment of mine caused 😂

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
          3·
          6 days ago

          It’s not you I’m mad with. It’s just with what your comment represents.

          • Fleur_@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            6 days ago

            I’m really glad you released all your pent up political anger towards media illiteracy at me, for asking a question… About dogs… And why they shakey…

            • Dasus@lemmy.world
              1·
              6 days ago

              If you don’t want people pointing at you and talking about stupid questions, don’t ask them.

              Yes, yes, such funny answer, no articles so seem like babby language, haahaa

              The answer was in the post. I’m sick and tired of people considering politeness more important than common sense.

              “But wyy doggo shako wyyyy wyyy”

              Climate change isn’t our biggest problem. Ignorance is.

              • Fleur_@lemm.eeEnglish
                2·
                6 days ago

                My intention was to make fun of the other comments saying “the dog shakes because it’s wet” to paraphrase. I was not seriously asking why dogs don’t shake when submerged. I tried to convey that by using improper language that imparts an innocent tone.

                I know some good parks if you need any recommendations on some good places to touch grass to help out with your dommer mentality btw

                • Dasus@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  6 days ago

                  Tired of everyone making everything a fucking joke. Nothing is serious the world won’t burn hahahaha

                  I know some good forums if you need any recommendations for forums where to practice your jokes to help out your “comedy” btw