Credit: matabum
If a dog looks at you with puppy eyes and a crinkled brow, they will get what they want, whether that be food, a walk or simple attention. Who can resist that look?
Dogs didn't come up with this clever trick to manipulate us on their own, or was it that they look adorable? Preliminary results of an 18-month study show that domesticated dogs have a higher ratio of facial muscles than their wild ancestors.
Dogs have muscles that are closer to humans. These features have evolved through domestication.
Humans contributed to the development of a more human-like anatomy and features in dogs through domestication and the breeding of new dog species.
The senior author of the study and professor in the department says that humans selected dogs to have a lot of fast-twitch fibers in their mimetic muscles so they could communicate with us using facial expression.
Humans have about 70% to 75% of their mimetic muscles dominated by fast-twitch fibers.
Fast-twitch fibers dominate the muscles that control facial expression. The result is readable facial expressions. A quarter of the slow-twitch fibers hold a smile for a long time.
Fast twitch muscle fibers contract quickly, but fatigue quickly. Slow-twitch fibers are fatigue-resistant. If you are a marathon runner, most of your lower limb muscles are probably dominated by slow-twitch fibers, whereas if you are a sprinter, your lower limb muscles are probably dominated by fast-twitch fibers.
According to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the puppy eyes came from humans.
The levator anguli oculi medialis muscle was found in dogs, but not in wolves.
The study will look at the range of motion in dog and wolf faces.
Did we breed dogs to communicate more with humans than with wolves?
We think that these behaviors were selected by humans during the dog domestication process. We humans have selected dog behaviors that pleased us.
The bond between human and dog can be explained by breeding alone. Brain activity from the gaze between humans and their pets is similar to that of human mothers and their children, according to research published in Science.
The same hormone that is released by a mother when she gazes into the eyes of her infant is released by both dogs and their owners.
Puppy eyes and crinkled brows are an adorable feature when breeding domesticated dogs. Dogs communicate with their owners through facial expressions. There is no denying the special bond between us.
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