为什么狗狗的眼里常含泪水，因为它想让你……｜科学60秒

2023-02-05 14:02

流泪狗狗

流泪狗狗｜@Pixabay

结束一天的学习或工作后，如果被欢快狂喜的狗狗一顿问候，你的疲惫感或许能被快乐冲淡一些。但牵动我们心弦的不仅仅是快乐的汪汪叫和疯狂摇动的尾巴，一项研究表明，当狗狗与主人团聚时，它们的眼睛里会充满泪水，而这会唤起我们关怀抚育的本能，研究结果发表在《当代生物学》（Current Biology）杂志上。

在观看他的宠物贵宾犬与其幼崽互动时，菊水健史对小狗湿润和宠爱的目光产生了兴趣。菊水健史说：“给崽崽喂奶时，她的脸变得特别可爱，当然，她一直都很可爱，只是这种情况下更可爱了。”

在某个时候，身为日本麻布大学兽医学教授的菊水意识到，他可爱的狗妈妈眼里含着泪水。极致可爱和满盈泪水之间潜在的联系让菊水匆匆地离开了他的贵宾犬，回到了实验室。

“在测试中，我们最初测量的是狗狗和主人在家时的基准泪液量。”然后主人会蓦然离去五六个小时，菊水表示，“当主人回来时，我们会再次测量泪液量，结果发现与主人的重逢会刺激狗狗分泌泪液。”

而这只发生在狗主人身上，“当狗狗与主人分开，并在狗狗护理中心与狗狗看护人团聚时，泪液并没有增加。”

研究人员怀疑流泪反应来自催产素刺激，这是一种与社会联系相关的激素。他们此前的研究表明，狗与主人互动时催产素水平会上升，并且，在小鼠分泌眼泪的腺体中，催产素受体含量丰富。

菊水：“所以我们给狗狗眼睛涂抹了催产素溶液。”

然后，狗狗真的两眼泪汪汪了，但这是为了什么呢？换句话说，这种流泪行为有什么好处吗？为了找出答案，菊水和同事……[查看全文]

Dogs Actually Tear Up When Their Owners Come Home

Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.

After an exhausting day at the office, it’s hard not to smile when you’re greeted by a delirious display of uncontrolled canine joy.

[Dog greeting]

But it’s not just the happy yapping and wriggling tail wagging that tug at our heartstrings.

[Dog greeting]

Because a new study shows that dogs’ eyes fill with tears when reunited with their people…an effect that evokes our nurturing instincts. The findings appear in the journal Current Biology.

Takefumi Kikusui became interested in doggies’ damp and adoring gazes while watching his pet poodle interact with her pups.

Takefumi Kikusui: When she was nursing her puppies, her face becomes so cute. Of course she’s so cute as always. But more.

Hopkin: At some point Kikusui, who’s a professor of veterinary medicine at Azabu University in Japan, realized that his adorable mama dog had tears in her eyes. That potential connection between unbearable cuteness and unshed tears sent Kikusui scurrying away from his poodle and back to the lab.

Kikusui: In the test, we initially measure the baseline tear volumes when dogs were together with the owner in their house.

Hopkin: Then the owner would high-tail it off for five or six hours.

Kikusui: When the owner came back, we measure tear volume again. And found that the reunion with the owner stimulate tear secretion.

Hopkin: But it only worked with the dog’s owner.

Kikusui: There was no increase in tears when the dogs were separated from the owner and reunited with the dogs’ caretaker in a dog care center.

Hopkin: The researchers suspected that the tearful reaction was stimulated by oxytocin…a hormone associated with social bonding. They had shown previously that oxytocin is boosted when dogs interact with their owners. And oxytocin receptors have been found to be abundant in the glands that secrete tears in mice.

Kikusui: So we applied oxytocin to the dogs’ eyes.

Hopkin: And voila…the dogs grew weepy. But to what end? In other words, is there some benefit to this lachrymose behavior? To find out, Kikusui and his colleagues...[full transcript]

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论文信息

Murata, K. et al. (2022) “Increase of tear volume in dogs after reunion with owners is mediated by oxytocin,” Current Biology, 32(16).

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.07.031

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