We’re all obsessed with our little four-legged friends. With tail wags and smiles, they’re known as man’s best friend for a reason! But have you ever wondered why dogs wag their tails? Well, a new study found the answer, and… it’s seriously adorable.
Humans love tail wags and, interestingly enough, it might be a big part of why we selected dogs as the animals we wanted to domesticate. This study found that humans may be drawn to tail wags because of the rhythm.
While the study is looking at a couple of different hypotheses, one potential explanation is that because humans are drawn to rhythm, the tail wagging spoke to some of our instincts. This theory is called the domesticated rhythm hypothesis.
The other hypothesis explored in the study about why dogs wag their tales explains that tail wagging may have started after the domestication process began to signal docility.
Silvia Leonetti is the head researcher on the project and there are still a lot of unknowns out there. But we’re excited to discover why dogs wag their tails!
The featured image for this post is from Samson Katt of Pexels.
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