Do dogs cry with joy?
A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, reveals that dogs seem to produce tears of joy when they find their owner.
Do you think your dog is overwhelmed when he greets you? His eyes seem to confirm this.
A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, indeed reveals that dogs seem to produce tears of joy when they find their owner .
It wouldn't come as a complete surprise. Earlier work has demonstrated that dogs “understand” human behaviors and emotions, but this is the first time scientists have explored the link between emotional arousal and tear volume. with the animals. Animal behavior and veterinary medicine specialists from Azabu University, Japan, performed the Schirmer test (an eye test that checks the amount of tear fluid) before and after reunions between dogs and their masters. They found that dogs secrete more tears when reunited with their owners than before they were separated.
But other experts expressed skepticism that how to calculate the amount of tears that can be affected by the dog's movements.
The same team of researchers had already shown in 2015 that oxytocin, “ the love hormone ”, increased in dogs and their masters when they look at each other.
The authors of this study specify that it should not be concluded that dogs experience emotions in the same way as humans. The evolution and domestication of our four-legged friends has allowed them to be excellent visual communicators. Thus, in order to attract the attention of their masters to take care of them, dogs have developed over the course of evolution certain behaviors, such as… looking at their human with eyes filled with tears, explains Takefumi Kikusui, one of the authors of this publication.
