Jean-Joseph Hillary, Kortekaas Kim, Range Friederike, Kotrschal Kurt
Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Domestication Lab, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
PLoS One. 2025 Jan 8;20(1):e0313916. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313916. eCollection 2025.
A basic mechanism of domestication is the selection for fearlessness and acceptance of humans as social partners, which may affect risk-taking behavior and the ability to use humans as social support, both at the behavioural and physiological levels. We combined behavioural observations with heart rate parameters (i.e., HR and heart rate variability, HRV) in equally raised and housed wolves and dogs to assess the responses to food offered in the vicinity of a potential stressor (an unknown spinning object) with and without social support from a familiar human. Based on previous studies on neophobia in wolves and dogs, we expected dogs to be less scared of the object, approach more quickly, show less ambivalent behaviour, lower HR, and higher HRV, than wolves, especially at the presence of a human partner. However, we found that mainly age and the presence of a familiar human affected the behaviour of our subjects: older wolves and dogs were generally bolder and faster to approach the food and the familiar human's presence increased the likelihood of taking it. HR rate parameters were affected by age and the stage of the test. Wolves and dogs showed particularly high HRs at the beginning and end of the test sessions. We conclude that in our paradigm, wolves' and dogs' risk-proneness varied with age, rather than species. Additionally, the presence of a familiar human increased the motivation of both, dogs and wolves to take the food.
驯化的一个基本机制是选择无所畏惧并接受人类作为社会伙伴，这可能会在行为和生理层面影响冒险行为以及将人类用作社会支持的能力。我们将行为观察与心率参数（即心率和心率变异性，HRV）相结合，对同等饲养和圈养的狼和狗进行研究，以评估在有或没有熟悉的人类提供社会支持的情况下，它们对潜在应激源（一个未知的旋转物体）附近提供的食物的反应。基于之前对狼和狗新恐惧症的研究，我们预计狗对该物体的恐惧较小，接近速度更快，表现出的矛盾行为更少，心率更低，心率变异性更高，尤其是在有人类伙伴在场的情况下。然而，我们发现主要是年龄和熟悉的人类的存在影响了我们研究对象的行为：年长的狼和狗通常更大胆，接近食物的速度更快，并且熟悉的人类的存在增加了获取食物的可能性。心率参数受年龄和测试阶段的影响。狼和狗在测试阶段开始和结束时的心率特别高。我们得出结论，在我们的范式中，狼和狗的风险倾向随年龄而变化，而非物种。此外，熟悉的人类的存在增加了狗和狼获取食物的动机。
