WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Are Wolves Smarter Than Dogs?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and this is a classic episode from

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<v Speaker 1>our previous host, Christian Sagar. I've known some dogs that

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<v Speaker 1>are pretty smart. I've also known some that weren't. Bless them,

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<v Speaker 1>but could wolves be smarter? Hey, brain Stuff, it's Christian Sager.

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<v Speaker 1>My dogs Winchester and see Blue. They are real smart.

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<v Speaker 1>So I was intrigued when I read a new study

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<v Speaker 1>that said wolves are more intelligent in some ways than

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<v Speaker 1>my dogs and all their canine friends, whether you have

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<v Speaker 1>a chocolate lab or a coonhound. Scientists believe that some

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<v Speaker 1>modern dogs and wolves descended from a common ancestor between

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<v Speaker 1>eleven thousand and thirty thousand years ago. The new study,

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<v Speaker 1>which was published in the September Journal of Scientific Reports,

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<v Speaker 1>is by an international team of researchers at the Wolf

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<v Speaker 1>Science Center in Vienna, Austria. They found domesticated dogs cannot

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<v Speaker 1>make the connection between cause and effect wolves, however, can.

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<v Speaker 1>They came to that conclusion by testing and comparing how

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<v Speaker 1>the two species searched for food after giving them hints

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<v Speaker 1>about where it was located. Researchers used fourteen dogs and

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<v Speaker 1>twelve socialized wolves in their experiments. During the tests, the

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<v Speaker 1>animals had to choose between two containers, one with food

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<v Speaker 1>and one without. The first thing researchers did was determined

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<v Speaker 1>whether the animals could make sense of communicative clues by

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<v Speaker 1>pointing and looking at the container with the food. Researchers

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<v Speaker 1>next wanted to see how the dogs and wolves responded

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<v Speaker 1>to behavioral cues. The experiment or pointed to the container

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<v Speaker 1>with food, but did not make eye contact with the animals. Finally,

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<v Speaker 1>in the last experiment, the animals had to infer themselves

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<v Speaker 1>which container had the hidden food, using only causal clues

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<v Speaker 1>like noises made when the experiment or shook the container

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<v Speaker 1>with the food. Both the wolves and the dogs did

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<v Speaker 1>well on the communicative clue tests all found the hidden food.

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<v Speaker 1>Both species, however, failed the behavioral cue portion. Without direct

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<v Speaker 1>eye contact, neither a dog nor wolf could find the food.

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<v Speaker 1>During the last part of the test, however, only the

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<v Speaker 1>wolves could make casual inferences as to where the food

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<v Speaker 1>was located. In other words, the scientists said the wolves,

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<v Speaker 1>not the pooches, understood cause and effect. Study author Michelle

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<v Speaker 1>lamp from the Netherlands reminded us, however, that The differences

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<v Speaker 1>can be explained by the fact that wolves are more

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<v Speaker 1>persistent to explore objects than dogs, as because dogs are

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<v Speaker 1>conditioned to receive food from us, whereas wolves have to

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<v Speaker 1>find food themselves in nature. What shocked researchers was that

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<v Speaker 1>the wolves were able to interpret direct eye to eye contact.

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<v Speaker 1>That understanding of communicative cues, researchers said may have facilitated domestication.

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<v Speaker 1>The study is unique also in that it used dogs

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<v Speaker 1>that lived in both packs and with families, but the

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<v Speaker 1>results of the dogs were independent of living conditions. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by John Partano and produced by Tristan

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<v Speaker 1>Neil and Tyler Clang. For more on listen lots of

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<v Speaker 1>other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production off i Heart Radio. For more podcasts my Heart Radio,

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