Wolves are more tolerant than dogs
Scientists from the Vienna Veterinary University denied the generally accepted view that dogs are more tolerant and less aggressive towards each other than wolves. The results are published in Proceedings of the Royal Society
Dogs easily get along with a human, because in the process of domestication, the friendliest individuals were selected. Scientists decided to test the existing hypothesis that this tolerance extends to intraspecific relations of dogs. The researchers compared the intraspecific hostile behavior among dogs and wolves to test the hypothesis of intraspecific tolerance and came to an unexpected conclusion. It turned out that in fact, it is wolves who are more tolerant to representatives of their own species. The reason, presumably, is in a stricter hierarchy of dominance in dogs.
Animals were raised in the Austrian Center for the Study of Wolves, packs of wolves and dogs lived separately from each other. Nine wolves and eight mongrel dogs took part in the experiments. The subjects were fed from a common bowl, while feeding in pairs there were alpha and omega. When feeding wolves, animals showed aggression to each other equally, while an individual with a higher rank “forgave” this behavior to omega. In the case of dogs, an individual with a low rank immediately retired to the side, without showing hostile behavior. As the researchers note, in general, dogs and wolves rarely show intraspecific aggression. Scientists suggest that it is the tolerance of wolves to each other became the basis for the evolution of the relationship between man and dog.
Source: https://nplus1.ru/news/
