Tidbits #64-68 - June 14, 2011

The Secret Life of Dogs

• The Basenji, an African dog, is the only dog that does not bark.
• The average American dog will cost its owner $20,000 in its lifetime.
• Even bloodhounds cannot smell the difference between identical twins.
• The smallest living dog as of June '07, according to Guinness World Records, is a 4.9 inch, 1.4 pound Chihuahua. The smallest dog ever recorded was a 2.8-inch tall Yorkie.
• Some dogs can predict when a child will have an epileptic seizure and even protect the child from injury, even if they're not trained to do so.

Tidbit #26 - April 23, 2011

Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Isn't it annoying when your dog barks all night? You're trying to get to sleep and its insistent howling and barking gets so aggravating! But then, just a few hors later, the Earth starts shaking! You're too late to realize that your dog was trying to warn you, and too scared to wonder how it was able to try to warn you!

Question: How do dogs sense an earthquake hours before it happens?


Answer: There's a whole website that I found out about based solely on questions just like this. It's called onearthquakes.com, and I found a forum question that asked exactly what we're looking for here. If you don't want to read that whole article, I fished around in the comments and found the answer, no wall of text or summary needed:

"Animals are sensitive to the change in the Earth's magnetic field just before the earthquake." (Re: onearthquakes.com)

Tidbit #22 - April 17, 2011

Dogs truly are man's best friend. They're fun to play with, they're loyal, they can be trained, they... have wet noses? What's up with that?

Question: Why do dogs have wet noses?


Answer: Ahh, Answers.com, where would we be without you?

Dogs noses secrete a small amount of mucus which serves two purposes: to help their sense of smell, and to keep themselves cool. The thin layer of mucus helps with the absorption of scent chemicals from the air. In addition, the nose, along with the mouth and the pads of the feet, is one of the locations where dogs bodies release heat. (Re: Answers.com)

Yep, that's right. That wet stuff on your dog's nose is mucus. Granted, it doesn't feel like that, but it is.

Short tidbit today, huh?

Here's your condensed summary for the day:

The wet stuff on a dog's nose is a thin layer of mucus that helps its sense of smell and helps to cool it down.