Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: chris on 06/12/2017 18:58:13

Title: Are humans the only sweaty mammals?
Post by: chris on 06/12/2017 18:58:13

Are humans the only animals to sweat, or are there others?

Title: Re: Are humans the only sweaty mammals?
Post by: Bored chemist on 06/12/2017 19:17:41

All mammals sweat, but humans are among the sweatiest.

Title: Re: Are humans the only sweaty mammals?
Post by: chris on 06/12/2017 20:50:20

Are you

Quote from: Bored chemist on 06/12/2017 19:17:41

All mammals sweat, but humans are among the sweatiest.

Are you sure? I was under the impression that dogs can't...

Title: Re: Are humans the only sweaty mammals?
Post by: evan_au on 07/12/2017 09:34:34

Quote from: chris

I was under the impression that dogs can't (sweat).

Dogs have sweat glands under their fur, but they aren't used for cooling.
- Sweat won't evaporate very well when it has a thick overlay of fur.
- This prevents the breeze from getting to the sweat and evaporating it.

That's why dogs pant - the moving air has direct access to their tongues.

Dogs have functional sweat glands on their nose and paw-pads (to get a better grip?).
- But they don't have enough area to provide useful cooling.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_odor#Natural_dog_odors

Title: Re: Are humans the only sweaty mammals?
Post by: evan_au on 08/12/2017 21:11:49

PS: Maybe the dog's wolf ancestors lived in arctic areas and during the ice ages, where keeping warm was more of a challenge than cooling down?