Dogs vs Wolves: Fur-flying War of Wits

Summary of "Teaching young wolves new tricks: Wolves are considerably better imitators than dogs" By Veterinarmedizinische Universitat Wien

Evidence shows that wolves observe each other more than dogs do. This could relate to the fact that the cooperation between wolves is also the basis of dog-human interaction. This is because over the course of 15,000 years, when wolves were first domesticated, dogs became more familiar with human interaction and adapted their social skills to include interactions with humans. Therefore, slowly and surely losing their ability to learn by watching other dogs. Two members of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Friederike Range and Zsofia Viranyi conducted an experiment based on this. Fifteen wolves and fifteen mongrel dogs, all of the same age, observed a trained dog opening a box to access a food reward. All of the wolves succeeded to open the box, most using the method they had observed. However, only four of the dogs were successful, and appeared to choose random methods. To ensure that the results were not inaccurate by any delayed physical or cognitive development, the test was repeated after nine months. The dogs showed no improvement. To test the wolves’ apparent problem-solving superiority, the test was conducted again without any prior demonstration by a dog. The results showed the wolves were rarely successful. “Their problem-solving capability really seems to be based on the observation of a dog performing the task” said Range. Their skills at copying seems to relate to the fact that wolves are more dependent on cooperation than dogs are, and so "pay more attention to the actions of their partners”. As a wrap, wolves’ solve problems best by demonstration (Veterinarmedizinische Universitat Wien, 2014).

I enjoyed this article. I've always thought that wolves were superior to dogs (woop woop) because they are my favorite animals, but this in a way specified that appreciation. I love that wolves are more socially adept when it comes to their own kind and overall very useful for bad scenarios in the wild. Dogs, however, have gained a smaller amount of respect from me, as their social interactions are largely based on activities with humans. No offense to any of my human readers; it's just I simply find humans a difficult species to agree with. Some are indeed lovable, and I value them very much. Others I find to be arrogant and tend to think of themselves almost too highly. I deeply believe that those people should sit down and take a nice slice of humble pie and eat up. I believe it was simply sheer dumb luck that evolution favored us with the wonders of complex "brains" (I put this phrase in quotations because sometimes I seriously doubt the cognitive existence in some humans) and the extremely valuable, glorious, priceless, and amazing...opposable thumb. With out these traits we would be standing in awe at the sheer brilliance of something such as the social abilities of wolves and dogs alike.

Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien. (2014, January 31). Teaching young wolves new tricks: Wolves are considerably better imitators than dogs. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 8, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140131083410.htm