Dogs can distinguish people who are identical twins. These findings could change the way people train dogs to recognize that as long as this is done by recognizing the smell. Thus the results of research scientists in the Czech Republic.
In experiments, researchers tried dog's ability to distinguish the two pairs of identical twins that is, two boys aged 5 years and two daughters aged 7 years. Researchers also tried to use the two fraternal twin girls aged 8 years and men 13 years. Fraternal twins are the same but the child born from two eggs fertilized by two different sperm cells.
Experiments conducted with 10 German shepherd dogs and every dog perform 12 tests. All dogs are required kissed a handkerchief and looking for the same scent of seven possibilities. From the trials, researchers found that all dogs chose the correct answer.
Dogs were able to distinguish a child from its twin without once making a mistake. Dogs can still guess though all the twins lived in the same place and eat the same food with its twin.
For comparison, DNA tests alone can not distinguish between identical twins even though DNA tests are still able to distinguish fraternal twins who only have a gene similar to its twin. "Dogs can distinguish the odors of identical twins if she is trained," said Ludek Bartos, ecologists origin Koruna University of Life Sciences in Prague.
About how a dog can distinguish identical twins, researchers acknowledge the possibility of external factors such as an infection that can affect the body odor of each twin. "It should be stressed that we are still far from explaining the reasons why twins are different," said Bartos.
However, Bartos said, future research can focus on whether or when the smell of twins began to differ with age. The results of this study itself has been described in the journal PLoS ONE.
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