Who turns to the human? Companion pigs\u2019 and dogs\u2019 behaviour in the unsolvable task paradigm

Paula Pérez Fraga,Linda Gerencsér,Dóra Újváry,Melinda Lovas,Attila Andics

doi:10.1007/s10071-020-01410-2

Paula Pérez Fraga, Linda Gerencsér + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-020-01410-2

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Abstract

When facing an unsolvable problem, dogs exhibit spontaneous human-oriented behaviours (e.g. looking at the human partner, gaze alternations between the human and the target) sooner and for longer than domestic cats and hand-raised wolves. These behaviours have been interpreted as interspecific communicative acts aimed to initiate interaction. Here, we compare the emergence of human-oriented behaviours (e.g. orientation towards humans, orientation alternations, vocalizations) in similarly raised family dogs and miniature pigs utilising an unsolvable task paradigm which consists of Baseline (no task), Solvable and Unsolvable phases. Relative to the Baseline phase in which both species showed human-oriented behaviours to a similar extent, during the Unsolvable phase dogs showed more and pigs showed less such behaviours. Species-predispositions in communicative behaviour may explain why dogs have a higher inclination than pigs to initiate interspecific interactions with humans in problem-solving contexts.

Highlights

Various domestic (Malavasi and Huber 2016; Miklósi et al 2000; Nawroth et al 2016; Turner 2017) and wild (Canteloup et al 2015; Roberts et al 2014; Xitco et al 2004, 2001) mammals engage in communicative interactions with humans
Pigs proved to be overall faster than dogs (Xdogs ± SD = 12.8 ± 17.9 s and Xpigs ± SD = 6.5 ± 10.5 s; linear mixedeffects model (LMM), main effect of species on ‘success latency’: F1,20 = 5.188, P = 0.034)
During the first solvable trial, a low proportion of the subjects showed any human-orientation (N = 2/10 pigs and N = 5/12 dogs)—measured from the moment they started manipulating the apparatus

Summary

Introduction

Various domestic (Malavasi and Huber 2016; Miklósi et al 2000; Nawroth et al 2016; Turner 2017) and wild (Canteloup et al 2015; Roberts et al 2014; Xitco et al 2004, 2001) mammals engage in communicative interactions with humans. Single-species studies reported human-directed communicative behaviours in domestic farm animals (goats, horses) in similar contexts (Malavasi and Huber 2016; Nawroth et al 2016). We showed that even if kept as companion animals, pigs differ from dogs in their responses to human communicative cues (Gerencsér et al 2019) and in exhibiting spontaneous human-oriented communicative behaviours. We compared human-directed communicative behaviours of ~ 7 months old dogs and miniature pigs— both kept as companion animals from an early age—in an unsolvable task paradigm. We hypothesized that both species would exhibit spontaneous human-oriented behaviours, and an increase of those behaviours during the unsolvable phase in comparison with a baseline phase, especially in dogs. We expected more orientation alternations from dogs and more vocalizations from pigs, reflecting differential species-predispositions

Methods

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Results

Discussion

Compliance with ethical standards