REAL LIFE NEWS: DOGS RECOGNISE YOU IN PICTURES
by Hazed
It was thought that primates were the only animals (apart from humans) that could recognise people’s faces in pictures, but now it turns out that dogs can do it too, recognising their owner’s faces over those of strangers.
But they prefer looking at photos of other dogs. Well, they would, wouldn’t they?
Scientists put a group of dogs in front of a computer screen which showed a series of faces, and monitored the movement of their eyes to see where they were focussing. They found that a picture of the pooch’s owner was more likely to make the dog look directly into their eyes, which suggests they recognised the face. However, when the pictures showed strangers the dogs’ gaze ranged all around the face which suggests they didn’t know who they were looking at.
But the researchers also found that dogs were most happy looking at pictures of other dogs, whether they knew them or not! Professor Outi Vainio at the University of Helsinki said that, “Dogs looked at images of dogs longer than images of humans, regardless of the familiarity of the faces presented in the images.”
The dogs enjoyed looking at the pictures, said Professor Vanio. “Dogs seemed to experience the task rewarding, because they were very eager to participate.”
So maybe if you have to go out and leave your faithful fido alone you should put a picture of yourself on your computer screen.
