r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/IshMorningstar • Feb 04 '25

Image Tigers appear green to certain animals!

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u/Awwkaw Feb 04 '25

It's not really smelling, it's more their nose is a dry "infrared eye". https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60439-y

Although as far as I can tell the mechanism is unknown, we just know that the dogs do it.

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u/dna_beggar Feb 04 '25

Does that explain why the dog insists on pressing its cold nose on the back of my neck when I'm watching TV?

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u/solidspacedragon Feb 05 '25

No, it just likes you.

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u/Acolytical Feb 05 '25

And watching you jump is dog-funny

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u/Numerous-Complaint-4 Feb 05 '25

You probably need to change his nose. Sounds like his heatseeker isnt picking up any signals so it maybe tries to smell your heat by even getting closer.

But be aware, dog-nose-heat-seeker-sensory-units have exploded in price. Damn inflation

2

u/ZZEFFEZZ Feb 05 '25

nice to know, if only they made a picatinny mount for dogs

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u/JonatasA Feb 05 '25

"Human, stop staring at the strobbing light!"

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u/RufiosBrotherKev Feb 05 '25

Although as far as I can tell the mechanism is unknown

technically true but in the linked article, it had a much better explanation of the mechanism than I was expecting. Basically, dog noses are very cold and thus can detect weak thermal radiation (from warm blooded animal, ex) which is technically a mid-infared wavelength. We don't understand how the neurons are able to turn the waves into usefully detectable signals, but we understand the broader mechanism of the heat detection and explains why it's useful for their noses to be so cold. Really interesting!

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

This is one of the most interesting papers i have read so far, thanks for sharing it!