Monday, June 23, 2008
5 Things You Never Knew About Dogs
By: Richard Cross Terris
1. Dogs can tell from pheromones (chemicals that are released by animals) crucial information such as social status and moods. Smell is arguably a dogs most important sense, which is very different to humans.
2. A dog has once been recorded to live 29 years! The dog was an Australian cattle dog, and for twenty years of its long life was a working dog. On average, medium sized breeds live to about 14 years, although this varies greatly with breed, care and other factors such as environment.
3. Dogs have a much wider frequency range for hearing which is why they can hear dog whistles when humans cannot. Also unlike humans, as their ears can move they can work out exactly where a sound is coming from much more quickly. Not only that, they can hear a sound up to four times further away than a human can.
4. It was thought for a long time that dogs were colour blind, although this has turned out to not be the case. New research seems to suggest dogs can see some colour, although not to the same amount as humans can. They are, however, more sensitive to light.
5. There are up to 800 different breeds of dog worldwide, although household pets in western countries are usually chosen from a very small pool of favourites. The Labrador retriever for example is the most popular dog breed in the UK and US.
Dogs are fascinating animals, with a rich and incredible history. These are just a few of the many interesting facts about dogs!
Labels: dog/pets/puppy
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