Did you see this fascinating story about dogs a week or so ago which was widely reported in the press?
As dogs became domesticated, they evolved a special facial muscle around their eyes, found a study reported in the New Scientist.
They have a facial muscle for making those “puppy dog eyes” that melt our hearts. This muscle allows dogs to lift up their inner “eyebrow”, which makes their eye look larger, making them look more like childlike and also rather sad – the puppy dog eyes look.
The study’s author thinks this muscle evolved because people favoured dogs that make this expression. “It is really different in structure,” she says. “It’s not just something that is used more. The movement appears to be under voluntary control, but there’s no evidence that dogs are intentionally using it to manipulate us.”
Hmm. Not sure I agree with that last statement. What do you think?
Carol