It is difficult to find an animal that does not like to be petted - even stray dogs and yard cats enjoy gentle touches.
Almost all animals respond favorably to affection because light stroking of the fur awakens in pets memories of childhood, when their mother licked them.
Thus, gentle touches are associated with attention and care.
If you're wondering how exactly this process is triggered, the answer is in a study from 2003.
Then, as a result of an experiment on mice, scientists managed to find out that gentle stroking is the only sensation that stimulates a type of neuron called MRGPRB4+.
Stimulating MRGPRB4+ increased production of a chemical that reduced stress in the animals.
Further studies showed that these neurons are associated with hair follicles in the skin of mice.
This is how the answer was found to the question of why gentle stroking of fur is so pleasant for animals – it helps them calm down.
