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There's a famous experiment I just saw on Nature again, where two puppies, one dog and one wolf, both raised identically around humans, are given a test: Find
by AlbertCory 4y ago
There's a famous experiment I just saw on Nature again, where two puppies, one dog and one wolf, both raised identically around humans, are given a test:
Find the treat that the human points at. The dog puppy follows the cue, while the wolf does not.
That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the wolf, but it's genetically less likely to defer and learn from the human.
- pxc 4y agoI've seen similar research that shows the converse, as well: wolves are more likely than dogs to learn how to solve puzzles by watching other canines work the puzzles. It was in some dog documentary on Netflix. Wish I could remember the name! Anyway I think that tendency to attune to us, generalized to other contexts, is part of what makes dogs so wonderful. It's not just a matter of being able to direct them explicitly, but the fact that they're interested in what we're doing, how we're feeling, what we want, etc. All of that varies with each individual dog, of course. But it's obvious that generally, wolves and humans aren't as fit for each other as dogs and humans are.
- AlbertCory 4y agoYeah. I'd love to go on a wolf-watching trip, like I did a grizzly-watching trip on Kodiak Island. We made dogs out of wolves via selective breeding, albeit not always consciously.
- stormfather 4y agoAh so the dogs have instruction fine tuning.