Who gives out more treats, dogs or wolves?
May 2, 2019 4:06 PM Subscribe
Wolves are more willing to help each other than dogs, according to an experiment that involved canines activating touchscreens with their noses.
Led by Rachel Dale, an animal behavior researcher at the Wolf Science Center in Vienna, Austria, the study published Wednesday in the journal PloS ONe lends weight to the idea that prosociality in dogs is primarily inherited from their wild ancestors.
More proof that the “dogs are loyal” meme is propaganda from Big Dog.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:12 PM on May 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:12 PM on May 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
Hedging my bets, here.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:15 PM on May 2, 2019 [30 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 4:15 PM on May 2, 2019 [30 favorites]
This seems like one of those "well, duh!" things, but yay hard data I reckon.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:16 PM on May 2, 2019
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:16 PM on May 2, 2019
Why Daisy gets her ice cream first.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 4:53 PM on May 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 4:53 PM on May 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
More data that the pure awesome of dogs is being tainted by their association with humans...
posted by Windopaene at 5:07 PM on May 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 5:07 PM on May 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Why Daisy gets her ice cream first
Oh Franklin
That sort of behavior is a large part of why I'm not much of a dog person - and allowing (in some cases even encouraging) such behavior is why I often tend to give so-called "dog people" a lot of side eye. Of course, though I'm an admitted cat person, I also give "cat people" equal side eye for the same indulgent permissiveness toward their felines' unruly behavior. I've had well-behaved pets, I know damn well it can be done.
(Sorry, this topic tends to make me grumpy. Plus now I've got a headache from all that side eyeing.)
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:59 PM on May 2, 2019
Oh Franklin
That sort of behavior is a large part of why I'm not much of a dog person - and allowing (in some cases even encouraging) such behavior is why I often tend to give so-called "dog people" a lot of side eye. Of course, though I'm an admitted cat person, I also give "cat people" equal side eye for the same indulgent permissiveness toward their felines' unruly behavior. I've had well-behaved pets, I know damn well it can be done.
(Sorry, this topic tends to make me grumpy. Plus now I've got a headache from all that side eyeing.)
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:59 PM on May 2, 2019
We suggest this can be explained by the different socio-ecological selection pressures faced by the two species [29], with wolves having a higher reliance on cooperation with group members than their domestic counterpart.
I wonder if it's similar to how pet cats are like kids their whole lives as long as they grow up socialized with people, if dogs are actually like kids too, and kids are known to be selfish until we grow up and learn other, better ways to be. Wolves are grown ups and did learn that.
On another note I have a mental in joke where I think about what an early human would think about whatever I'm looking at, and they find this hilarious.
posted by bleep at 6:26 PM on May 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
I wonder if it's similar to how pet cats are like kids their whole lives as long as they grow up socialized with people, if dogs are actually like kids too, and kids are known to be selfish until we grow up and learn other, better ways to be. Wolves are grown ups and did learn that.
On another note I have a mental in joke where I think about what an early human would think about whatever I'm looking at, and they find this hilarious.
posted by bleep at 6:26 PM on May 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
So we're surprised that an animal bred to no longer act in packs no longer acts for social well being?
Perhaps this article needs some rebranding - new headline...
"WOLVES OF SOCIALISM HOWL: BLINDLY INDOCTRINATE YOUNG" - Dog News
See? You thought I was re-branding the wolves as socialists... but you were wrong... I was re-branding the shitty news coverage.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:11 AM on May 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Perhaps this article needs some rebranding - new headline...
"WOLVES OF SOCIALISM HOWL: BLINDLY INDOCTRINATE YOUNG" - Dog News
See? You thought I was re-branding the wolves as socialists... but you were wrong... I was re-branding the shitty news coverage.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:11 AM on May 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
"WOLVES OF SOCIALISM HOWL: BLINDLY INDOCTRINATE YOUNG" - Dog News
posted by Nanukthedog
😾
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:53 AM on May 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Nanukthedog
😾
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:53 AM on May 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
« Older "We want to send users to our paid products" | Typeset in the Future Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:06 PM on May 2, 2019 [2 favorites]