May 7, 2019
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Wolves are man's best friend!
Wolves are more sociable and care about their pack members more than pet dogs do, a study has found.
A new study suggests the reputation of dogs being caring and full of affection may be misleading. A series of touchscreen experiments carried out by the Wolf Science Centre in Austria found wolves make for more selfless pack mates than dogs who were also raised in groups.
The study's authors say the findings suggest domestic dogs inherited their cooperative tendencies from their fierce wolf ancestors, rather than through their contact with human beings.
Researchers trained the animals to use their snouts to press a 'giving' symbol on a screen. It would deliver food to an adjacent enclosure after being pressed where a fellow animal may or may not be present.
Over multiple trials, wolves opted to deliver food to members of their own pack, knowing they would not get anything in return. However the wild animals lost interest if they were shown an unfamiliar wolf.
Dogs, on the other hand, showed no particular inclination to feed other dogs when no personal payoff was involved, regardless of whether they knew them or not.
Lead author Rachel Dale said: 'This study shows that domestication did not necessarily make dogs more pro-social. Rather, it seems that tolerance and generosity towards group members help to produce high levels of cooperation, as seen in wolves.'
But don't write off your pooch just yet. The authors cautioned against applying the results of an experiment carried out on pack dogs to pet dogs that have been found to have pro-social tendencies in past studies. The researchers believe those behaviours could be the result of training or encouragement, and say more research is needed to determine what accounts for the differences.
The research was published in the journal Plos One.
Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk
