The eternal dispute between dog and cat lovers will probably never end.
However, scientists have found out which out of our
feline or canine friends love us more.
As part of a new BBC2 documentary called "Cats v.
Dogs", hosted by animal experts Chris Packham and Liz Bonnin, a
neuroscientist has investigated which species prefers humans.
We already knew that, like humans, dogs release the
'love hormone' oxytocin.
This test has never before been done on cats.
"We have pretty good evidence that dogs actually
love their humans,” according to Dr Paul Zak, who conducted the study. "A
couple of small-scale studies have shown that when owners interact with their
dogs, the human and their dog appear to release oxytocin.
"It’s one of the chemical measures of love in
mammals. Humans produce the hormone in our brains when we care about someone.
For example, when we see our spouse or child the levels in our bloodstream
typically rise by 40-60 per cent.”
The neuroscientist checked the oxytocin levels in both
cats and dogs after playing with their owners.
He took saliva samples from 10 cats and 10 dogs on two
occasions - 10 minutes before a playtime session with their owners and
immediately after - and tested both samples for oxytocin.
The results show the hormone increased by an average
of 57.2 per cent in dogs but only by 12 per cent in cats.
This means in theory, dogs love their humans more than
cats do.
"I was really surprised to discover that dogs
produced such high levels of oxytocin… the dog level of 57.2 per cent is a very
powerful response. It shows these dogs really care about their owners. It was
also a nice surprise to discover that cats produce any at all. At least some of
the time, cats seem to bond with their owners,” he added.
You can read the entire interesting article here.
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