According to a new study, dogs find food not only with their keen sense of smell, but also with their memory.
Dogs are famous for their ability to locate food through their sense of smell, but new research shows that they can also remember where food is when they see it.
A team from the Veterinary University of Vienna conducted a study with eight dogs. They tested each animal's ability to find food either after seeing a human hiding it, or without the dog witnessing the hiding.
The scientists found that the dogs found more of their food stores if they saw the food being hidden. The team said this shows that they don't just use smell to find food.
The researchers conducted the same study on wolves, the wild ancestors of modern dogs, and found similar results. And they suggested that cognitive abilities did not differ much between dogs and wolves.
While many dog owners enjoy treating their pets to a tasty snack, vets estimate that almost half of dogs in the UK are now overweight. Their 2023 report found that a third of dog owners don't know how much their pet weighs and 44 percent don't know what their dog's ideal weight should be.
Vets warned that snacks should only make up 10 percent of a dog's daily calories.
Interesting research on dogs... They remember where the food is!
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