An assistant professor of veterinary physiology at Oklahoma State University , Dr. Michael S. Davis, heads up a research project along with researchers from Texas A&M, to explain the extreme metabolic efficiency of sled dogs.
Dr. Davis has traveled to Alaska on multiple occasions to work with Iditarod drivers such as Jeff King and Zack Steer, in an effort to find out how sled dogs can change their caloric burn rate during long distance races and thus avoid fatigue.
The project is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in hope that the “magical” ability sled dogs have to fight fatigue can be found in human physiology, and can subsequently be applied by soldiers in combat. Dr. Davis is “confident” that human’s do have the latent ability. “We have to figure out how dogs are turning it on to turn it on in humans.”
While the idea of genetically engineered sleddog-human hybrid soldiers may trouble some, what I find most disturbing is that there are good ol' fashion humans out there who are willing to use this newly revealed stamina as an excuse to push their dogs to the absolute limits of their physiology.
Zack Steer asks "who would have thought that you could warm up for a 1,000-mile race by running a 1,000-mile race?" Well, Zack… I’m guessing someone who cares more about winning races than the well-being of their dogs.
New York Times - "Researchers Seek to Demystify the Metabolic Magic of Sled Dogs"
Anchorage Daily News - "Dog endurance changes racers' strategies"