Not Rocket Surgery

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Animals like dogs use panting, rather than sweating, as their main method of reducing their body temperature.
Panting is not the same as fast breathing as panting is very shallow – very little air is taken into the gas-exchange parts of the lungs during panting.

So how does panting work to reduce body temperature?

• The dog dilates the blood vessels to the tongue and increases its heart rate – this ensures that warm blood is pumped away from the body core and arrives at the surface of the tongue.
• The tongue is made flatter and thinner to increase it’s surface area.
• The tongue is moist as it has a layer of saliva (not sweat!) on its surface.
• Air is passed quickly backwards and forwards over the surface of the tongue and, in the process, the moisture (saliva) begins to evaporate.
• Evaporating moisture has a cooling effect, it carries the heat from the blood vessels in the tongue into the air.
• This leaves behind cooler blood in the capillaries of the tongue which is then carried back into the body to reduce the core temperature.