Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs
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Tartalom: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159...
Archívum: MTA Könyvtár
Gyűjtemény: Status = Published

Type = Article
Cím:
Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs
Létrehozó:
Gácsi, Márta
Vas, Judit
Topál, József
Miklósi, Ádám
Dátum:
2013
Téma:
QH301 Biology / biológia
Tartalmi leírás:
In this study we aimed to investigate novel aspects of dogs? comprehension of human social
behaviours by revealing potential differences in the responses of wolves and dogs when
they interact with a human in socially ambiguous situations.
In Experiment 1, pet dogs (N = 13) and hand-reared wolves (N = 13) encountered
a stranger who approached them first in a friendly, then a threatening way, and
finally switched back to friendliness again (Approaching stranger; AS) while the passive
owner/caregiver was standing close to the subjects. In contrast to dogs, wolves avoided eye
contact with both the caregiver and the stranger, however, only dogs showed aggressive
displays towards the stranger.
In Experiment 2, the same subjects were tested in an Object guarding (OG) situation. A
familiar woman, communicating the playful nature of the encounter, pretended to aim at
taking away her belt-bag from the subjects trying to make them respond with guarding
behaviour. Finally, she tried to take away the object without using dominant/threatening
behaviour. During the Game episode some dogs and wolves showed guarding displays, but
only dogs switched their responses twice and finally allowed the human take hold of the
object. All dogs but none of the wolves gazed at the owner/caregiver during the test.
In Experiment 3, we tested trained Belgian shepherd dogs (N = 13) in AS, OG, and in a Food
guarding (FG) situation. In FG a familiar woman challenged the subject to guard a bone by
applying enticement but otherwise not communicating the playful/pretended nature of the
encounter. Dogs displayed aggressive behaviours in all three situations as a response to the
human?s behaviour. In AS they adjusted their behaviour from passive/friendly to aggressive
and then friendly again, according to the switch in the human partner?s actions. In OG and
FG situations, after showing aggressive guarding displays they allowed the human to take
away the guarded object, both the bag and the food. A characteristic high-pitched vocalisation
observed during both guarding situations, typically before the first aggressive display,
could refer to the dogs? ambivalent emotions. This suggests that the human?s challenging
behaviour alone might be effective to evoke a simulated guarding behaviour. Our results
support the view that dogs have advanced abilities and readiness to combine seemingly
contradicting behaviour responses to respond to human behaviours or expectations, whilst
even hand-reared and extensively socialised wolves tend to display less human centred
behaviours and adjust their behaviours less to that of humans? in interspecific situations.
Típus:
Article
PeerReviewed
Formátum:
text
Azonosító:
Gácsi, Márta and Vas, Judit and Topál, József and Miklósi, Ádám (2013) Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 145 (3-4). pp. 109-122.
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