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)
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
I'm genuinely sorry this had to be about your joke, but it's not about you, personally. It's just about everyone doing what you're doing. So you + a whole bunch of other people.
But stop fucking making light of everything.
Why.
Why why why.
Why can't people take shit seriously for just like 30 minutes till we fix this shit and then we can have jokes again?
This is the only planet in the universe known to support life. I'm sorry I'm not "fun at parties" but we have to fix this shit.