WEBVTT - Why Do Hounds Have Floppy Ears?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff Works, Hey, brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff loring vogel bomb here. When two convicts pulled a

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<v Speaker 1>shawshank redemption in and tunneled out of the Clinton County

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<v Speaker 1>Correctional Facility and upstate New York, a two year old

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<v Speaker 1>bloodhound named Jinny was hot on their trail. Working with

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<v Speaker 1>James Pedolino from the Rensselaer County, New York Search and

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<v Speaker 1>Rescue Team, Jinny and a number of other canines used

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<v Speaker 1>their noses to scour the vast Adirondack region hoping to

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<v Speaker 1>pick up the escape e scent. Pedolino said of bloodhounds

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<v Speaker 1>in an interview with an Albany, New York television station,

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<v Speaker 1>they never make a sound on the trail. All this

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<v Speaker 1>loose skin helps hold the scent. Bloodhounds with their floppy

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<v Speaker 1>skin and gangly ears are the quintessential tracking dogs, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's good reason. While all types of dogs, including German

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<v Speaker 1>Shepherds and Labrador retrievers can sniff out convicts, cadavers, and

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<v Speaker 1>victims of disasters, the dogs with floppy ears seemed to

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<v Speaker 1>be the best at what they do. For one thing,

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<v Speaker 1>regardless of breed, dogs have amazing noses with more than

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred and twenty million olfactory receptors. Experts say a

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<v Speaker 1>dog's sense of smell is thousands of times more sensitive

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<v Speaker 1>than a humans. In two thousand nine, researchers at Pennsylvania

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<v Speaker 1>State University created a computer model of canines nose to

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<v Speaker 1>better understand how dogs smell. They reported in the Journal

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<v Speaker 1>of the Royal Society Interface that each nostril pulls in

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<v Speaker 1>air about five times every second. The dog, it seems,

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<v Speaker 1>knows which nostril is pulling in the scent, allowing them

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<v Speaker 1>to turn right or left when tracking. Moreover, receptors continue

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<v Speaker 1>to hold onto scent molecules even after the dog exhales.

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<v Speaker 1>But that being said, dogs with floppy ears, such as bloodhounds, coonhounds,

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<v Speaker 1>and bassett hounds, are exceedingly good trackers. That's because their

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<v Speaker 1>long ears act as catchers miths, scooping up invisible scent

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<v Speaker 1>particles on the trail and sweeping them towards the nose.

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<v Speaker 1>The scent particles also get trapped in the folds of

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<v Speaker 1>wrinkly skin on their faces, allowing the dog to carry

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<v Speaker 1>reference samples as they hunt. Long ears also tamped down

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<v Speaker 1>a dog's ability to hear far off sounds, forcing the

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<v Speaker 1>dogs to rely more on their sense of smell. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by John Paritano and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other well honed topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com