Dogs can 'see' with their noses, new study suggests

A new study has suggested that dogs might be able to use their noses to "see" as well as smell.

TN Viral Desk

Updated Jul 29, 2022, 08:27 IST

Dogs might actually be able to 'see' with their noses, a new study finds

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

The findings suggest that dogs have their vision and smell actually linked
It explains how some blind dogs are able to play fetch even when they can't visually see the ball
The research was published in the Journal of Neuroscience

A new study has suggested that dogs might be able to use their noses to "see" as well as smell.

Researchers and vets at Cornell University, in New York, examined canine brain scans and discovered a different pathway in the minds of dogs.

The findings suggest that dogs have their vision and smell actually linked - which has not yet been found in any other species.

It explains how some blind dogs are able to play fetch even when they can't visually see the ball.

The team performed MRI scans on many different dogs and was able to make "connections from the olfactory bulb to other cortical regions of the brain".

To put it simply, they found a link between the part of the brain that deals with smell and the area of the brain that processes sight.

The research was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. It gives the first evidence that dogs' highly-sensitive noses and their sight are interlinked.

"We've never seen this connection between the nose and the occipital lobe, functionally the visual cortex in dogs, in any species," Pip Johnson, assistant professor of clinical sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine, was quoted as saying by Mirror.

The researcher said, "It makes a tonne of sense in dogs. When we walk into a room, we primarily use our vision to work out where the door is, who's in the room, where the table is. Whereas in dogs, this study shows that olfaction is really integrated with vision in terms of how they learn about their environment and orient themselves in it."

Johnson explained the research supports her previous studies on blind dogs. "They can still play fetch and navigate their surroundings much better than humans with the same condition," she said.

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