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Jun 4 • General discussion
Did You Know?
The line on a dog’s nose serves a specific purpose.
Ever noticed the little vertical groove running down the center of a dog’s nose, connecting the tip of the nose to the upper lip? This narrow groove has a name: It’s known as the philtrum, which is also the word for the vertical groove that stretches from the base of the nose to the upper lip on human faces.
Human philtrums develop in the womb as the face forms, but they have no known function. For our furry friends, though, the philtrum serves an important and fascinating biological purpose. Every time a dog licks its lips or nose — which they tend to do quite a lot — a small amount of saliva collects in this narrow channel.
Through a process called capillarization or capillary action (the same process that allows water to climb up the roots and stalks of plants), the saliva is gently moved up toward the nose pad, aka the leathery skin at the very tip of a dog’s muzzle. This helps keep a pup’s nose nice and moist — because a wet snout is much better at capturing scent molecules from the air.
The moisture helps to trap, dissolve, and hold on to odor particles so a dog’s 300 million or so olfactory receptors can efficiently analyze all the wonderful smells that permeate its environment. So when your very good boy or girl gives you a big kiss and immediately licks their nose, they’re not just being adorable — they’re instinctively topping up the moisture in their philtrum so they can better understand the invisible world of smells around them.
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Did You Know?
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