Nature & Environment
Man's Best Friend Learned Its Doggy Social Skills from Wolves
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jan 20, 2015 11:12 AM EST
Dogs are man's best friend, but have you ever wondered why they cooperate so well? Scientists have examined the origins of this dog-human relationship and have found that it stems from wolf behavior.
Most believe that dogs have become domesticated after humans actively selected for tolerance and attentiveness during the domestication process. This, in turn, made for cooperative partners. Now, though, researchers have proposed a new hypothesis; it's possible that these social skills didn't emerge during domestication, and were already present in wolves.
In this case, the scientists believe that wolves aren't less social attentive than dogs. Dogs, though, cooperate more easily with humans because they more readily accept people as social partners and more readily lose their fear of humans.
In order to test this, the researchers examined the social attentiveness and tolerance of wolves and dogs within their packs toward humans. Several behavioral tests showed that wolves and dogs have similar social skills. Among other things, the researchers found that both wolves and dogs could use information provided by a human to find hidden food.
"Overall, the tests showed that wolves are very attentive to humans and to each other," said Friederike Range, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Hypotheses which claim that wolves have limited social skills in this respect in comparison to dogs are therefore incorrect."
The findings reveal that wolves can be just as social as dogs. In fact, this may show how dogs first became domesticated in the first place; wolves were already social and therefore eventually evolved into dogs over time, working with humans.
The findings are published in the journal Frontiers is Psychology.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
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First Posted: Jan 20, 2015 11:12 AM EST
Dogs are man's best friend, but have you ever wondered why they cooperate so well? Scientists have examined the origins of this dog-human relationship and have found that it stems from wolf behavior.
Most believe that dogs have become domesticated after humans actively selected for tolerance and attentiveness during the domestication process. This, in turn, made for cooperative partners. Now, though, researchers have proposed a new hypothesis; it's possible that these social skills didn't emerge during domestication, and were already present in wolves.
In this case, the scientists believe that wolves aren't less social attentive than dogs. Dogs, though, cooperate more easily with humans because they more readily accept people as social partners and more readily lose their fear of humans.
In order to test this, the researchers examined the social attentiveness and tolerance of wolves and dogs within their packs toward humans. Several behavioral tests showed that wolves and dogs have similar social skills. Among other things, the researchers found that both wolves and dogs could use information provided by a human to find hidden food.
"Overall, the tests showed that wolves are very attentive to humans and to each other," said Friederike Range, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Hypotheses which claim that wolves have limited social skills in this respect in comparison to dogs are therefore incorrect."
The findings reveal that wolves can be just as social as dogs. In fact, this may show how dogs first became domesticated in the first place; wolves were already social and therefore eventually evolved into dogs over time, working with humans.
The findings are published in the journal Frontiers is Psychology.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone