Assignment:
So for your homework, find a recent scientific article (no more than 10 years old) that supplies evidence for dogs having better communication with humans than wolves do! Please post the article citation and a brief two paragraph (at least 800 words) summary of how the evidence shows that dogs have some abilities that wolves do not. Then post an illustrative video (can be from YouTube!) showing dogs using their communication skills with humans.
(MY ARTICLE IS POSTED IN THE OTHER FILE)
For this homework assignment, we will continue to examine the differences between "tame" behavior and domestication.
For example, the domesticated foxes of Dr. Belayev's experiment were friendly towards humans whereas the fearful/control line was not. Scientists have compared wild foxes with the domesticated foxes and find they differ on a number of communicative behaviors. That is, that they get more information from humans and establish a two-way communication with them.
The same argument applies for wild wolves versus domesticated dogs. Through the action of selection (whether as a by-product of selection on stress levels or cognition or not) dogs have very different behaviors than wolves. The primary differences lie in human-dog communication.
Bonus - compare them with research on Dr. Belayev's foxes!
https://youtu.be/GNf2vLhifiUHint:
For your evidence please use scientific articles (i.e., not the NYT or Scientific American) from the primary literature such as Nature, Animal Behavior, PLOS, etc. Use this format below for your citation (PLEASE do not just post a link without a citation).
Example citation:
Francois, A. 2016. Insight into dog and wolf behavior: dogs gaze longer at humans during communication. Animal Behavior 131:12-16.
For this article, I would write a two paragraph summary about how the article above provides evidence that dog gazes are different from wolf gazes and it affects communication in the following ways...etc.
Readings:
A comparison between wolves, Canis lupus, and dogs, Canis familiaris, in showing behaviour towards humans
By Marianne T. E. Heberlein