Byosiere Sarah-Elizabeth, Espinosa Julia, Marshall-Pescini Sarah, Smuts Barbara, Range Friederike
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America.
Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
PLoS One. 2016 Dec 29;11(12):e0168570. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168570. eCollection 2016.
Animals utilize behavioral signals across a range of different contexts in order to communicate with others and produce probable behavioral outcomes. During play animals frequently adopt action patterns used in other contexts. Researchers have therefore hypothesized that play signals have evolved to clarify communicative intent. One highly stereotyped play signal is the canid play bow, but its function remains contested. In order to clarify how canid puppies use play bows, we used data on play bows in immature wolves (ages 2.7-7.8 months) and dogs (ages 2 to 5 months) to test hypotheses evaluated in a previous study of adult dogs. We found that young dogs used play bows similarly to adult dogs; play bows most often occurred after a brief pause in play followed by complementary highly active play states. However, while the relative number of play bows and total observation time was similar between dog and wolf puppies, wolves did not follow this behavioral pattern, as play bows were unsuccessful in eliciting further play activity by the partner. While some similarities for the function of play bows in dog and wolf puppies were documented, it appears that play bows may function differently in wolf puppies in regards to re-initiating play.
动物在一系列不同情境中利用行为信号与其他动物进行交流，并产生可能的行为结果。在玩耍过程中，动物经常采用在其他情境中使用的动作模式。因此，研究人员推测玩耍信号已经进化以明确交流意图。一种高度刻板的玩耍信号是犬科动物的玩耍鞠躬，但它的功能仍存在争议。为了弄清楚犬科幼崽如何使用玩耍鞠躬，我们利用了未成熟狼（2.7至7.8个月大）和狗（2至5个月大）的玩耍鞠躬数据，来检验在之前一项关于成年狗的研究中所评估的假设。我们发现幼犬使用玩耍鞠躬的方式与成年狗相似；玩耍鞠躬最常出现在玩耍过程中的短暂停顿之后，接着是互补的高度活跃的玩耍状态。然而，虽然狗和狼幼崽的玩耍鞠躬相对数量和总观察时间相似，但狼并不遵循这种行为模式，因为玩耍鞠躬未能成功引发伙伴进一步的玩耍活动。虽然记录了狗和狼幼崽玩耍鞠躬功能的一些相似之处，但在重新引发玩耍方面，玩耍鞠躬在狼幼崽中的功能似乎有所不同。
