This is a

is Scientific Americans 60 Second Science.

I'm Jason Goldman.

When is a sneeze more than a sneeze?

For African wild dogs, it turns out that sneezes are a form of voting.

Gather a bunch of wild dogs together and a sneezing chorus becomes a way of implementing

democratic decision-making.

African wild dogs, also known as painted dogs, thanks to their colorful splotchy coats, are known for

highly energetic greeting rituals called social rallies.

It's kind of flat and shrubby in Botswana where these dogs are living.

They spend all day sleeping. Usually in the shade and kind of dog piles within like 20 meters of one another.

Botswana Predator Conservation Trust and Brown University researcher

Hallee Walker. And so once one dog wants to lead to go hunting, they'll get up from

rest and assume this kind of stereotype posture.

I think the easiest way to kind of imagine is when you get home from work and your dog is really

excited to you. They do that both with each other.

She and her colleagues noticed that dogs would sneeze a lot near the end of their social rallies.

At first they thought the dogs were simply clearing out their dusty airways, but a closer look

revealed something more complex.

Walker and her team recorded the details of 68 social rallies from five different wild dog packs in Botswana.

And the more sneezes they counted, the more likely it was that the pack would move off and begin hunting.

One sneeze, one vote.

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