Researchers have found a way to translate the age of dogs into human years, with a very precise calculation
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himequating the age of our four-legged friend to that of humans we are used to multiplying his years by seven, but this is a rough approximation.
In fact, dogs reach puberty around 10 months: already from this data, it is clear that multiplication by 7 cannot work, as it would mean that we humans would reach sexual maturity at 6 years of age.
A dog can then live up to 20 or more years, while a human being is unlikely to be able to reach 140 years.
Multiplying the age of our dog by seven can therefore help to have an estimate of his age translated into human years, but it is a method that is deficient in many respects.
According to scientists, there is a better way to know what age the dog years correspond to in "human years". This is a much more accurate formula for assessing a dog's age and comparing it to ours.
The calculus originated while researchers were studying factors related to aging in dogs. Scientists have focused on studying DNA as, as we age, our DNA undergoes chemical changes that can be used as a kind of genetic clock and provide information on the wear and tear of the organism and on the onset of certain pathologies.
Specifically, the researchers analyzed the DNA methylation processes in the genomes of 104 golden retriever dogs, aged between 4 weeks and 16 years, noting remarkable similarities between the DNA methylation of dogs and humans.
Although dogs and humans were very different long ago, today the similarities are striking as the two species share the same environment and have access to similar health care.
DNA methylation patterns in young dogs tended to be similar to those in young humans, and the same was true for older dogs and humans.
These similarities can also be exploited for compare physiological ages between dogs and humans, using the following formula:
Human years = 16 ln (Dog years) + 31,
where ln stands for natural logarithm, used because dogs and humans do not age identically. Dogs age very quickly in the early part of their life, but the aging process slows down enormously with time, compared to the human one.
So the translation of dog years into human years it is not linear but logarithmic. A one-year-old dog is about 30 years old in human age, while at 2 he is about 42, at 6 he is 60 and at 12 he is only 70.
By entering your dog's age in the calculator below, you can know how many human years it corresponds to.
The researchers conclude that similar calculations, but with a slightly different formula, can be made for other animals, such as cats.
Read also:
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- Love for dogs? It's written in our genes
- Dogs know how we feel, the study proving what we already knew
