Zoologists have identified breeds of dogs that tend to respond to wolf howls. This has been reported by the University of Budapest.
Dogs were created as a species as a result of artificial selection by man from wild ancestors – wolves. At the same time, some dog breeds have changed beyond recognition and have ceased to resemble wild ancestors. However, the two species are very closely related, including the occasional howl of dogs.
Howling is the main form of communication among wolves, while dogs mostly bark among themselves. Hungarian scientists decided to find out which dogs usually react to howling wolves. The authors tested 68 purebred domestic dogs by listening to recordings of wolf howls and observing their reactions in the lab.
“Our results show that breeds that are more genetically similar to wolves (“ancient breeds”) are more likely to respond to breeding wolf howls with their own howls. On the other hand, species more distantly related to wolves (“modern”) would often respond with barking rather than howling. It seems that although howling is in the repertoire of most breeds, it has lost its functionality due to the changing social environment, so modern races do not use it in appropriate situations, ”say the scientists.
According to the authors, “ancient races” are better able to read information encoded in howl. In addition, it turned out that castrated men most often emit howl in response. This is probably due to their increased shyness: They are signaling, “I’m afraid, don’t come close.”