The influence of relationships on neophobia and exploration in wolves and dogs

Abstract

Exploration is important for animals to be able to gather information about features of their environment that may directly or indirectly influence survival and reproduction. Closely related to exploration is neophobia, which may reduce exposure to danger, but also constrain explorative behaviour. Here we investigated the effects of social relationships on neophobia and exploration in wolves, Canis lupus, and dogs, Canis familiaris. Eleven pack-living wolves reared by human foster parents and 13 identically raised and kept dogs were tested in a novel object test under three different conditions: (1) alone, (2) paired with a pack mate and (3) together with the entire pack. Dogs were less neophobic than wolves and interacted faster with the novel objects. However, the dogs showed overall less interest in the novel objects than wolves, which investigated the objects for longer than the dogs. Both wolves and dogs manipulated objects for longer when paired or in the pack than when alone. While kinship facilitated the investigation of novel objects in the pair condition in both wolves and dogs, rank distance had opposite effects. Our results suggest that the presence of conspecifics supported the exploration of novel objects in both wolves and dogs, particularly within kin and that this may be interpreted as risk sharing. The reduced latency to approach objects and less time spent exploring objects in dogs compared to wolves may be interpreted as an effect of domestication.

Keywords: dog; domestication; exploration; neophobia; relationship; wolf.

Figure 1

Example of objects used in the novel object test.

Figure 2

Latency (s) of making contact with the object for the first time for (a, b, c) dogs and (d, e, f) wolves in the (a, d) alone, (b, e) pair and (c, f) pack conditions. Box plots show the median and the interquartile range from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Whiskers indicate the 1.5 interquartile range of the data. Circles represent outliers. (For statistical results of the separate test conditions see Tables A9, A14, A19.)

Figure 3

Duration (s) of object investigation for (a, b, c) dogs and (d, e, f) wolves in the (a, d) alone, (b, e) pair and (c, f) pack conditions. Box plots show the median and the interquartile range from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Whiskers indicate the 1.5 interquartile range of the data. Circles represent outliers. (For statistical results of the separate test conditions see Tables A10, A15, A20.)

Figure 4

Duration (s) of object investigation in wolves and dogs when tested with a sibling or with an unrelated animal in the pair condition tests. Box plots show the median and the interquartile range from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Whiskers indicate the 1.5 interquartile range of the data. Circles represent outliers.