Why Are Dogs So Friendly? Science Finally Has an Answer
Our pet canines have alterations in their genes that make them more sociable than wolves, a new study says.
BottledCans: So when I moved away from home, I took my sister (who has Williams) with me. This study explains **a lot**.
My sister gets jazzed about my “upcoming” birthday five months out. She texts me she loves me whenever it occurs to her (which is a few times a day). She pores over the smallest kind gestures, like she literally can’t believe I would bring her home dinner *again* (I do every night). She may never understand algebra, but loves more deeply than anyone I’ve ever met.
tl;dr my sister has Williams, and she’s basically a golden retriever who can text.
tin_men: Imagine the payoff for early man. You give the dogs scraps and in return you get hunting partner, security system, companion.
PrincetonToss: On the other hand, though dogs underperform wolves in many problem-solving tasks, they outperform wolves in several things as well. Dogs are enormously good at reading human facial expressions and body language (which is crazy, since they’re a different species). They’re one a small group of animals that understand the concept of pointing and following someone’s gaze.
It’s also important to note that there’s significant nurture-type differences too; I wonder how well dogs that were raised without human contact would do.
EDIT: there’s also very significant differences in intelligence between different dog breeds; I wonder what breeds were used in the experiment.
Applejuiceinthehall: Most domestication of animals is the process of selecting for friendliness and humans probably are also friendlier now because of the domestication of dogs and other species. I think the opposite of friendly is fearful in this context.
cock_pussy_up: Dogs are basically retarded wolves.
HouseDownTheStreet: So, this is what would happen if an alien civilisation domesticated us as pets. Domesticated humans, would make an interesting sci-fi concept.
S8600E56: How do I get this syndrome?
native_usurper: Then I think it’s about time we domesticated cats, no?
lennyflank: We should try it with humans.
joculator: My girlfriend’s Morkie didn’t get the notice it bites me every morning.
fapfapaway: They are not explaining Williams Syndrome in full. Humans that are diagnosed have an inability to filter thoughts and feelings. While some of those feelings are friendly – others are mean, perverted, and hateful. I have witnessed a person go from being lovey dovey to pissing on their shoe and hitting the other person in a blink of an eye. The perpetrator was 11 years old.
v33v: Even with adblocker, article is barely tolerable with the popups and ads. This stuff is getting worst everyday.
TheBearJew75: There’s a significant amount of evidence now that humans did not actively domesticate wolves – they domesticated themselves. Basically, the wolves that were least aggressive to humans could follow hunter gatherer camps and pick off the garbage. Humans also benefited from this because the wolves served a s a sort of alarm around the perimeter of the camp. Sure, eventually we started fucking with them, but evidence is showing we didn’t just steal a bunch of wolf cubs and kill the aggressive one while breeding the nice/dumb ones.
Source: am evolutionary biologist
A link: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130302-dog-domestic-evolution-science-wolf-wolves-human/
toughcookiesnumbnuts: Radio Lab did a great show on the domestication of foxes and what it taught scientists about humans: http://www.radiolab.org/story/91696-new-nice/
limitedbatterylife: Have you seen an Anatolian shepherd? They certainly do not have a tendency to love anyone they do not care about…