It may not be research that's earthshaking, but it's definitely dog-shaking, pig shaking and even rat-shaking.

Most of us try to avoid getting showered by the dog shake, but researchers at Georgia Tech decided to study it.

PHOTOS: Dogs shaking themselves dry

"They can actually do a miraculous job of drying themselves," said Dr. David Hu. 

The team used a high speed camera to record the shakes, resulting in images so stirring that the journal Nature put them to waltz music.

A mouse shakes around 30 times per second. 

According to Dr. Daivd Hu, "They basically compensate for their size by shaking faster."  While dogs shake about 4 times a second leaving them 70 percent dry within one to four seconds. 

Now we humans don't want loose flesh, but on a dog it comes in handy.

That loose skin increases the speed at which the water is whipped away. While the dog's backbone goes back and forth only 30 degrees.

"The skin goes 90 degrees right, 90 left. Only possible way it's loose enough to perform whipping action around the body," explaind Dr. David Hu.

Hey, a vigorous whipping sure beats sitting under the blow dryer. The researchers even went to the zoo and recorded a lion. Dr. David Hu says furry mammals probably developed the shaking mechanism to avoid staying wet and getting hypothermia. Goats do it, even sheep shake.  The Georgia Tech team even managed to x-ray shaking.

Now maybe you think a big butt is easier to shake.  Oh they capture attention, but try telling that to a Kangaroo.   
It's built for hopping, not shaking.

Dr. David Hu says, "It can't really shake. Has this sort of large buttock and it can't really shake that around so it just shakes its head."

 

 

 

 

Watch the video above for more on this story.

Jeanne Moos, CNN - Courtesy Andrew Dickerson & David Hu, Georgia Tech.,