1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstue, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here. Our pet dogs are pretty smart, 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: sometimes frustratingly so when there's something you don't want them 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: getting into. In some cases, are pups even have smart 5 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: behavioral traits that we selected for over time, like herding 6 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:26,439 Speaker 1: or guarding. And of course, service dogs are trained to 7 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: help millions of people around the world. But research shows 8 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: that wolves are more intelligent in some ways than our dogs. 9 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: The studying question, which was published in September in the 10 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: journal Scientific Reports, is by an international team of researchers 11 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: at the Wolf Science Center in Vienna, Austria. They found 12 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: that domesticated dogs can't make the connection between cause and 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: effect wolves, however, can. They came to this conclusion by 14 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: testing and comparing how the two species searched for food 15 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: after being given hints about where it was located. The 16 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: researchers used fourteen dogs and twelve socialized wolves in their experiments. 17 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: During the tests, the animals had to choose between two containers, 18 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: one with food and one without. The first thing the 19 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: researchers did was determined whether the animals could make sense 20 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: of communicative clues by pointing and looking at the container 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 1: with the food. Researchers next wanted to see how the 22 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: dogs and wolves responded to behavioral clues. The experimenter pointed 23 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: to the container with food, but didn't make eye contact 24 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,960 Speaker 1: with the animals. Finally, in the last experiment, the animals 25 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: had to infer themselves which container had the hidden food, 26 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: using only casual clues, like noises made when the experiment 27 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: er shook the container that contained the food. Both the 28 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: wolves and the dogs did well on the communicative clue tests, 29 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: all found the hidden food. Both species, however, failed the 30 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: behavioral clue portion. Without direct eye contact, neither dog nor 31 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: wolf could find the food. During the last part of 32 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: the test, however, only the wolves could make casual inferences 33 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: as to where the food was located. In other words, 34 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: the scientists said the wolves, not the pooches, understood cause 35 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: and effect. Study author at Michelle Lampez said in a statement, 36 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,399 Speaker 1: the results of our studies suggest that domestication has affected 37 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: the casual understanding of our dogs. It cannot be excluded, however, 38 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: that the differences can be explained by the fact that 39 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: wolves are more persistent to explore objects than dogs. Dogs 40 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: are conditioned to receive food from us, whereas wolves have 41 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 1: to find food themselves in nature. What surprised researchers was 42 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: that the wolves were able to interpret direct eye to 43 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: eye contact. That understanding of communicative clues, researchers said may 44 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: have facilitated domestication. Scientists now believe that some modern dogs 45 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: and wolves descended from a common an ancestor between eleven 46 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: thousand and thirty thousand years ago. But the study we're 47 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: talking about today is unique also and that it used 48 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,799 Speaker 1: dogs that lived both in packs and with families. Study 49 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: author Julian Kaminski said in a statement, the results of 50 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: the dogs were independent of living conditions, and this makes 51 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: our study the first to make a valid comparison between 52 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: these two animal groups in this particular setup. Today's episode 53 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: is based on the article wolves are probably Smarter than 54 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: our dogs on house to works dot com, written by 55 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: John Paritano. Brain Stuff is production of Our Heart Radio 56 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: in partnership of how stuff Works dot Com, and it's 57 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. The four more podcasts my Heart Radio, 58 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 59 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.