1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here with a classic 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: episode from the vault. This fun delves into a curious 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: bit of animal behavior. Why dogs love rolling around in 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: seemingly anything that really reeks? Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: bam here. If you've ever had a dog, or walked 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: a dog, or watched as many videos of dogs on 8 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: the internet as I have, you've probably witnessed one adorably 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: infuriating canine behavior. Their ability to find the spot with 10 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: the most decaying, stinky, vile, rotting awfulness and roll around 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: right in it, coating themselves in the muck. But why 12 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: spoiler alert? This is one of those questions that science 13 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: does not have a direct answer to, but the theories 14 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: are fascinating. Some researchers suspect it's a holdover from evolution. 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: Perhaps dogs are trying to mask their own scent to 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: hide from potential predators, even though they're generally unlikely to 17 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: encounter any in our human environments. Another theory suggests that dogs, 18 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: like wolves, roll because they smell something that to them 19 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: is sweet. Wolves exhibit this behavior so that everyone else 20 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: in the pack knows what it just found. A wolf 21 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: will PLoP down in a decaying carcass, get all good 22 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,199 Speaker 1: and mucked up, and return as if to say, come on, guys, 23 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: you're not going to believe what I found. Interestingly, Canadian 24 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: researchers in six study descent rubbing into groups of captive wolves. 25 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: The researchers cooked up a range of different smells, somewhere 26 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: from herbivores others from carnivores. The dogs could also smell 27 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: food and some manufactured aromas, including perfume and motor oil. 28 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: The researchers observed that the wolves liked the manufactured sense 29 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: better than any of the others. A few liked the 30 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: scent of cougar and bear feces, while only one wolf 31 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: picked the salted pork. None liked the tuna oil. Other 32 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: scientists suggest that center rolling and yes that is the 33 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: scientific term, is a defensive trait. The January seventeen issue 34 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: of the Journal of Ethology, researchers at the University of 35 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: Wisconsin at Madison wrote about how they observed some gray 36 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: foxes with remote cameras in Santa Cruz, California for four years. 37 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: The cameras clicked on and off. They found that gray 38 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: foxes rubbed their jowls on puma scrapes, a form of 39 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: scent marking that the big cats used to communicate with 40 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,639 Speaker 1: other pumas. The upshot was that the foxes were perhaps 41 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: covering themselves in puma scent in order to keep predators away. 42 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: We spoke by email with Simon Gadbois, an expert in 43 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: canaid behavior and scent processing at Dalhousie University in Halifax, 44 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: Nova Scotia. He said, there are many hypotheses out there, 45 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: from environmental camouflage to seeking a group odor. Often all 46 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:46,799 Speaker 1: members of the family unit will roll in the scent 47 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: to exploratory behavior. Yet at the end of the day, 48 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: he added, no one really knows it could be and 49 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: this is my pet theory. Pun retroactively intended that they're 50 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: just having fun with a new and exciting scent experience 51 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: like terrible perfume, which is a possibility. Ged was said. 52 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: If you watch wolves, coyotes or dogs doing it, it 53 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: seems pretty obvious to me that they love it. Try 54 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: to stop them. Sometimes animals do things for no other 55 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 1: reasons than it's fun. We just have to be open 56 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: to that idea. Today's episode is based on the article 57 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: dogs Love rolling in Stinky Stuff on how stuff works 58 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: dot Com, written by John Paritano. Brain Stuff is production 59 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:31,639 Speaker 1: of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works 60 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. For more 61 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 62 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.