Explaining Dog Wolf Differences in Utilizing Human Pointing Gestures: Selection for Synergistic Shifts in the Development of Some Social Skills

Márta Gácsi,Enikö Kubinyi,Friederike Range,Ádám Miklósi,Borbála Gyoöri,Zsófia Virányi,Beatrix Belényi,Colin Allen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006584

Abstract

BackgroundThe comparison of human related communication skills of socialized canids may help to understand the evolution and the epigenesis of gesture comprehension in humans. To reconcile previously contradicting views on the origin of dogs' outstanding performance in utilizing human gestures, we suggest that dog-wolf differences should be studied in a more complex way.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe present data both on the performance and the behaviour of dogs and wolves of different ages in a two-way object choice test. Characteristic behavioural differences showed that for wolves it took longer to establish eye contact with the pointing experimenter, they struggled more with the handler, and pups also bit her more before focusing on the human's signal. The performance of similarly hand-reared 8-week-old dogs and wolves did not differ in utilizing the simpler proximal momentary pointing. However, when tested with the distal momentary pointing, 4-month-old pet dogs outperformed the same aged hand reared wolves. Thus early and intensive socialisation does not diminish differences between young dogs and wolves in behaviour and performance. Socialised adult wolves performed similarly well as dogs in this task without pretraining. The success of adult wolves was accompanied with increased willingness to cooperate.Conclusion/SignificanceThus, we provide evidence for the first time that socialised adult wolves are as successful in relying on distal momentary pointing as adult pet dogs. However, the delayed emergence of utilising human distal momentary pointing in wolves shows that these wild canines react to a lesser degree to intensive socialisation in contrast to dogs, which are able to control agonistic behaviours and inhibition of actions in a food related task early in development. We suggest a “synergistic” hypothesis, claiming that positive feedback processes (both evolutionary and epigenetic) have increased the readiness of dogs to attend to humans, providing the basis for dog-human communication.

Highlights

Recent interest in the evolution of social cognitive abilities in animals puts the domestic dog at the forefront of research [1]
Conclusion/Significance: we provide evidence for the first time that socialised adult wolves are as successful in relying on distal momentary pointing as adult pet dogs
Comparative research provided evidence on the outstanding ability of dogs to rely on human pointing gestures, even when the pointing hand was distant from the signalled location, and could not be seen while the animal made its choice (‘distal momentary pointing’, see [2] for review)

Summary

Introduction

Recent interest in the evolution of social cognitive abilities in animals puts the domestic dog at the forefront of research [1]. Dogs even have been found to perform better in some human related communicative tasks compared to chimpanzees [2,3] The origin of this skill of dogs has mainly been discussed from an evolutionary point of view. A more recent hypothesis has argued for indirect selection as an alternative explanation It suggests that in dogs, selection for decreased ‘‘emotional reactivity’’ led to lower levels of fear and aggression, and higher interest and contact seeking towards humans, which in turn enabled canid cognitive skills to be applied in interspecific interactions [5,6,7]. One study found that intensive socialisation and regular training of wolves diminish some of the previously suspected differences in social cognitive skills between dogs and wolves. To reconcile previously contradicting views on the origin of dogs’ outstanding performance in utilizing human gestures, we suggest that dog-wolf differences should be studied in a more complex way

Methods

Results

Conclusion