During the hot summer, dogs are often seen lazily panting with their mouths open and tongues sticking out, especially after activity. Why is this? It turns out that dogs’ sweat glands are located on their tongues, unlike humans whose sweat glands are on the skin. By opening their mouths and breathing rapidly, dogs are using the evaporation of sweat to disperse excess heat because they are warm-blooded animals.
People often feel particularly hot after running. Don’t some people use exercise to warm up their bodies in winter? The reason body temperature rises quickly after activity is that the substances in the body undergo various complex changes at an accelerated pace during exercise, releasing heat in the process. These changes also occur when people are at rest, but at a slower rate.
The normal human body temperature is around 37°C; too high or too low can cause illness, so it must remain constant. If body temperature rises, excess heat must be dissipated. In cold weather, this can be done through the skin, but it is more difficult in hot weather. As the saying goes, “water flows to lower places,” and heat always flows from high-temperature areas to low-temperature areas. However, in summer, when the ambient temperature is very high and close to or even higher than body temperature, dissipating body heat becomes challenging.
However, when you move to an open, windy area, you immediately feel much cooler because the wind carries away the heat.
Understanding the function of human sweating makes it easy to understand why dogs pant with their mouths open and tongues out. It’s because dogs also need to maintain a certain body temperature!