If you think of your dog as a child, science has found out why. New research published in Science shows that when we look our four-legged friends in the eye, the same hormonal response that binds us to human babies is activated.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
If you think about your dog like a son, science has found out why. A new research published in Science; demonstrates that when we look our four-legged friends in the eye, the same hormonal response that binds us to human babies is activated.
The study, the first to show this hormonal effect between humans and other species, can help explain how dogs became our companions thousands of years ago. The researchers were able to show that watching the behavior of dogs, but not wolves, increased urinary concentrations of oxytocin in owners. Oxytocin is a hormone linked to maternal bonding, in trust and altruism.
This may explain why dogs are so useful for people with autism and post-traumatic stress disorder. Kikusui and colleagues they convinced 30 friends and neighbors to bring their animals to the laboratory, also involving some people who raised wolves as pets.
When each owner brought their pet to the lab, the researchers collected urine from both and then asked the owners to interact with the animal in a room together for 30 minutes. During this time, the owners they caressed their animals and talked to them.
Dogs and their owners they looked into each other's eyes each other. Not surprisingly, the wolves didn't show much eye contact with their owners. The team then took urine samples again. In the second phase of the research, oxytocin was sprayed into the noses of a group of dogs to see if the bitches were looking at their owners more often.
The findings suggest that human-dog interactions elicit the same type of reaction that exists between mothers and children. This may explain why we feel so close to our dogs, and vice versa. Oxytocin decreases anxiety, and the domestication of dogs may have been important for human survival.
Roberta Ragni
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