Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here here's a question we
Speaker 1: know has been keeping you up at night. Do dogs
Speaker 1: have belly buttons? Of course they do, I mean they
Speaker 1: do right well. The short answer is yes, dogs and
Speaker 1: cats have belly buttons. All placental mammals do. Placental mammals
Speaker 1: are those that give birth to live babies, as opposed
Speaker 1: to oviparous animals, which lay eggs, and marsupials, whose babies
Speaker 1: develop in their mother's pouch. While in the womb. Placental
Speaker 1: mammals depend on their mothers to deliver nutrition and oxygen
Speaker 1: and remove waste through the umbilical cord that goes for
Speaker 1: puppies as well as humans. Each puppy in a litter
Speaker 1: has its own umbilical cord that connects its mother's placenta
Speaker 1: to the puppy's stomach. After giving birth, a mama dog
Speaker 1: will chew through the umbilical cord, leaving a wound where
Speaker 1: the puppy and cord were connected. The tiny wound on
Speaker 1: the pup heals quickly into a small thin line, also
Speaker 1: known as a navel or belly button, so essentially, belly
Speaker 1: buttons are just scars. But where are these belly buttons
Speaker 1: on our four legged friends? You certainly don't notice them
Speaker 1: like you do on humans. The navel on a dog
Speaker 1: it's often difficult to locate because of its size and
Speaker 1: the fur that quickly grows over it. If you feel
Speaker 1: compelled to find your dog's belly button, look for it
Speaker 1: under the fur where the tufts meet around the base
Speaker 1: of your dog's ribs. Sometimes there will be a noticeable
Speaker 1: patch of darker fur in the area. And unlike human navels,
Speaker 1: canine belly buttons are between their nipples, which are located
Speaker 1: at the base of the rib cage. So yes, dogs
Speaker 1: and cats have belly buttons, they just look different than
Speaker 1: human belly buttons. In fact, humans are the ones with
Speaker 1: the unusual belly buttons. They're relatively large compared to those
Speaker 1: of other mammals. The majority of human navels about are
Speaker 1: concave and are often referred to as innies. A much
Speaker 1: smaller number of people the remaining ten percent, have oudies
Speaker 1: that protrude like a lump under the skin, and many
Speaker 1: people incur actually believe that audies are caused by a
Speaker 1: doctor's less than stellar umbilical cord cutting skills, but the
Speaker 1: lumps are totally normal. It's just the way a person's
Speaker 1: skin an abdominal wall come together. While the umbilical scars healing.
Speaker 1: All placental mammals can get them. However, some audies are
Speaker 1: caused by umbilical hernias. Hernias occur when muscles don't heal properly.
Speaker 1: Instead of growing together, the muscles leave a hole where
Speaker 1: tissue or a bit of intestine can poke through. Most
Speaker 1: of these heal on their own without treatment and don't
Speaker 1: cause any pain or other symptoms. But if a puppy
Speaker 1: or kitten or a human baby has an audie that
Speaker 1: becomes swollen or painful, take them to a vet or
Speaker 1: you know, a doctor to get checked out and prevent complications.
Speaker 1: So dogs and humans have belly buttons for the same reason,
Speaker 1: but unlike humans, dogs don't have the extra convenience of
Speaker 1: a built in lint catcher, and their belly buttons aren't
Speaker 1: really good candidates for piercing either. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by mix bar with and produced by Tyler clayg. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other catchy topics,
Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com and
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