How old is your dog in “dog years”?
You might have heard 1 dog year is 7 human years, but the truth (and science) is more complicated.
Let’s break it down on The Super Pawesome Science Thread!
#TSPST
The truth is, dog are just older than we think. This isn’t based on looking at dog or seeing their physical decline, it’s sneaking a peek into their DNA. Inside their DNA, a better picture of aging develops.
One interesting thing about dogs is they live in literally the same environment as humans AND have a similar lifestyle. There are few environmental factors that differ between dogs and humans, so DNA can be compared fairly!
According to both physiology and DNA, a dog ages rapidly, then slows down. Dogs under one can have puppies, so obviously the 1=7 rule falls apart, and DNA-wise a 1 year old puppy is roughly equivalent to a 30 year old human. 😮
In a study, a team looked at methylation marks (wrinkles in the genome) in over 100 dogs. The dogs ranged in age from puppies to old dogs up to 16 years in age. These methylation marks were compared against a human selection with a similar spread of ages.
The team came up with a formula that you can use that scales the age compared to what they found in their study.
16 x ln(dog age) + 31
For Bunsen’s age, we went 5 then ln (natural log), we took that number and multiplied it by 16, hit equal and then added 31.
We got 57!
It was a bit shocking to see that Bunsen is nearly 60 compared to humans.
For dogs after 5, their age really slows. If you put in 12 for dog age you get 70 in human years. So from 5 to 12 dogs age (based on DNA wrinkles) only 10 human years.
Beaker is 42!
All of this seems shocking, but many dogs start to have similar joint issues from 6-10 that humans in their 60-70s do. After 12 years, just like humans, most dogs are beating the odds.
It should be noted that this is based on Labradors. Smaller dogs usually age slower after 1.
If you liked this thread- give us a follow!
@bunsenbernerbmd and retweet the FIRST post in the thread!
If you love science and dogs- check out the @sciencepawdcast, a podcast that mixes science and dogs weekly!
bunsenbernerbmd.buzzsprout.com
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.