Wolf Science Center, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 30;8(1):16049. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33771-7.
Although theories of domestication have suggested that dogs evolved a greater capacity for tolerant and cooperative behaviour compared to their wild wolf cousins, the differences between wolves' and free-ranging dogs' social ecology, with wolves relying more on conspecific cooperation than dogs, would rather predict the opposite. In a cooperative task involving joint action on a rope to pull a tray forward, wolves systematically outperformed dogs. The dogs' failure appeared largely due to tolerance issues, i.e. one partner avoiding interacting with the apparatus, when the other was engaged with it, rather than cognitive limitations. To verify this, in the current study we trained the dominant partner to become an 'expert' on the task thereby potentially enhancing their understanding that they 'needed the partner to succeed'. Indeed both the duration of co-action on the apparatus and the success rate of dyads composed of an expert and an inexperienced dog was higher than dyads composed of two inexperienced partners. Nevertheless the dogs' performance was substantially poorer than that of wolf dyads with equivalent experience, highlighting that despite the facilitating effect of the 'expert', cooperation on this task did not come easily to dogs. For both dogs and wolves, cooperation was facilitated by the closeness of the affiliative bond between individuals, but opposite rank effects emerged. Dogs further apart in rank were more successful co-operators, whereas in wolves, animals closer in rank had a higher cooperative success. The results further highlight the importance of the different socio-ecologies of wolves and dogs in understanding their behaviour.
尽管驯化理论表明，与野生狼相比，狗具有更大的宽容和合作行为能力，但狼和自由放养狗的社会生态之间的差异，即狼比狗更依赖同种合作，这更可能预测相反的结果。在一项涉及共同拉绳将托盘向前移动的合作任务中，狼系统地表现优于狗。狗的失败主要是由于容忍问题，即当另一个伙伴与设备互动时，一个伙伴避免与设备互动，而不是认知限制。为了验证这一点，在目前的研究中，我们训练了主导伙伴成为该任务的“专家”，从而可能增强他们的理解，即他们“需要合作伙伴才能成功”。事实上，由专家和不熟练的狗组成的对的共同作用时间和成功率都高于由两个不熟练的伙伴组成的对。尽管如此，狗的表现仍然明显不如具有同等经验的狼对，这突出表明，尽管有“专家”的促进作用，但狗在这项任务上的合作并不容易。对于狗和狼来说，合作都受到个体之间亲密的情感联系的促进，但出现了相反的等级效应。等级相差较远的狗是更成功的合作者，而在狼中，等级相近的动物具有更高的合作成功率。结果进一步强调了狼和狗不同社会生态的重要性，这有助于理解它们的行为。
