WHY DO DOGS HAVE TO SLEEP LONGER THAN HUMANS AND WHAT SPEEDS CAN THEY REACH?

There are more and more scientists who deal with dogs. They want to understand as much as possible how our pets work, think and why they have become man's best friends. Thanks to modern technology and research, we already know a lot about the biology and psychology of dogs. Thanks to this, dogs live longer and our coexistence can be in harmony. What has science discovered so far? Read on for some interesting findings.

WHY DO DOGS SLEEP SO LONG?

The amount of time a dog spends sleeping depends on many factors, including its age, size, breed, health and activity level. Most dogs require significantly more sleep than humans because they spend much less time in REM sleep (the deepest and most restful stage of sleep). While humans spend about twenty-five percent of their sleep in the REM phase, dogs spend ten percent of their sleep. This means they need more sleep to be well rested.

HOW FAST CAN DOGS RUN?

The speed of the dog obviously depends on the size and physical fitness of the dog. It is also largely influenced by body shape, leg length, age and health. According to statistics, the fastest breed is the English greyhound, which is able to run at a speed of up to 70 km/h! The record is held by a dog that even ran 80 km/h. Thanks to their aerodynamic body structure, whippets and Afghan hounds can run similarly fast.

HOW HIGH CAN DOGS JUMP?

For many dogs it is no problem to jump on the couch at home, how many times you can be surprised how high they can jump. Especially when, for example, he sees a bowl of cutlets on the table. Like a dog's speed, jumping depends on many factors. It is affected by size, strength, age, health and physical condition. It is proven that dogs can jump to a height of two meters. Even more impressive is the fact that some small breeds can jump multiple times their body height.

HOW WELL DO DOGS HEAR?

Dogs' excellent hearing is no myth, it's actually a biological advantage that has helped them for thousands of years. According to research, a dog can hear sound up to four times further than humans. Porcupines have 18 muscles in their ears (three times as many as the human ear), allowing them to use their ears independently and change the direction they listen, helping them focus on a specific sound. They can also "connect" to different frequencies and thus record, for example, a whistle that the human ear cannot detect. And if you feel like your dog is ignoring you, in some cases it's because of selective hearing that they really can't hear you.

WHAT DO DOGS SAY WHEN THEY BARK?

Although dogs bark for a variety of reasons, scientists previously thought that the way they bark doesn't change depending on what they want to communicate. However, more recently, research has found that dogs have elasticity in their vocal cords, which allows them to change the tone of their bark.

The spectrographic images showed differences in timing, pitch, and other features that vary with context. The same goes for growling. Experiments have shown that dogs respond to the vocalizations of other dogs differently depending on the context. For example, scientists recorded a situation where a dog growled over food and at a stranger. When they played the food growl in front of another dog and offered him a treat, he was more hesitant to accept it than when he next heard the growl at a stranger.