Wolves Know How to Work Together | ScienceTake

[@TheWitness1001]

0:05 I could hear them saying.: Wolf 1: Hey joe, you take the left rope, I got the right side. Wolf 2: You got it Tom.

[@DelilahKreuser]

🤣

[@50FiftyPence50]

That's actually a really incredible video, Just that natural instinct to turn back to see where his ally was, understanding he needed him to complete the task.

[@alphaarx3055]

Yeah

[@TheWitness1001]

and other one looking at him, like wait bro, I'm coming.

[@TheWitness1001]

I love wolves. After lions, they are my second favorite animal.

[@huichuanyang8105]

I feel like the wolves have done this many times for, they run straight for the ropes.

[@inlovewithi]

The wolves probably figured it out, and then completed the experiment many times and understand that they need each other to get the food, while with as many tries, the dogs have yet to figure it out.

[@thwwinner6138]

@@inlovewithi you can easily train a dog to do that

[@ra7en114]

thw winner the point is that the wolves don't need to be trained. they figure it out by themselves

[@thehorsesnamewasfriday8695]

River Yang ikr

[@heavythegreywolf]

"Hey I heard if we pull the rope some meat will fall, AIN'T THAT GREAT!!"

[@Ephyne]

They should do 2 more experiments: One with a dog and a human just passively holding the rope (because I hypothesize that dogs still have an innate ability to do teamwork, but it has been genetically selected through breeding to conform to and prioritize human feedback or interaction as opposed to other dogs'), as well as another with stray or wild dog packs (because when left to their own devices, a lot of times, dogs will form packs. Packs require teamwork, so I hypothesize that in those stray/wild dogs that manage to survive, they adapted their propensity for teamwork back to their own species). I think this experiment alone (without these two additions to tackling variables not initially addressed) is inadequate because it falsely assumes that the typical "kept" dog is the only kind of dog or is adequately representative of all dogs when this is not the case. While they tried to do add some variation with working dogs, these dogs are still primarily "kept" and do not rely on their own species for survival--They all rely on humans. Thus, the ability to do work with a human (innately, and without training ahead of time for a certain task) should be tested to account for the human-dog socialization variable with a preference for humans, and similarly, the ability of dogs primarily socialized to other dogs needs to tested to test the same variable accounting for the opposite case (a lack of a human-dog relationship with preference for dogs). The case they chose was using dogs socialized to humans but unfairly expected them to behave like dogs socialized to dogs, so it was not definitively testing the genetic nature of the animal like the suggests, but mixed variables (this is poor variable control) and tested animal-human socialization. Because this experiment was not enough to encapsulate the abilities of dogs who are distinctly different in that they were not raised with human socialization (a key difference), the experimental design was flawed. To truly test the nature of teamwork in terms of genetics, these factors need to be separated and better accounted for. I expect the relationship to humans drastically changes the dog's adapted behaviors both genetically and environmentally, so strays and wild dogs are likely to be better adapted to dog-dog teamwork than their pet counterparts, though because they are still genetically dogs having been bred to work with humans, they will not be as good as wolves, but better than the house dogs. I would even add another comparison with wolves that were raised in the wild as opposed to in captivity like these likely were, since that will help to more thoroughly separate the environmental factor from the purely genetic.

[@zemtek420]

well this video is jacked up. You know they worked with those other animals a lot and they just threw in a couple domestic dogs that were not even working dogs.

[@monogenes3091]

and many human failed to complete the task too lol

[@KamillaMorti]

24794 SoniConsentes SON ahaha that's so true

[@olgaolgahernandeztablet7502]

24794 SoniConsentes

[@FuroraF]

These trials are so exciting! I try some of them on my own dog through activefeeding. So amazing to see the different skills in animals. I wonder how wild dogs would do???

[@xenoidaltu601]

Dogs are basically 3yr olds that can walk on all four. They are so dependant on us.

[@hanspeters8057]

"When wolves evolved into dogs..." As if they just became dogs over time instead of being interbred (=domesticated) by humans.

[@wolves44445]

Interbreeding is not domestication

[@8kigana]

I had a problem with that too, you are not alone. He's no expert on wolves that's for sure (I am not either but majority experts don't say wolves evolved to dogs). He flubbed it and kept going (they review this before sending why they okayed it I don't know).Wolves and Coyotes were around longer than the domestic dog. The early domestic dog was a wolf like dog, not a full on wolf and it as you said was bred out of it's wildness *by man* and not naturally evolved.

[@lostinthestorywithjeremymi9385]

If we got dogs to work together by themselves, then configure that with working with humans (yet still keeping the first going) we'd possibly see the pack mentality increase even more. Wolves are intelligent animals and they know working together is a big part of their survival, they don't need to, but it's more beneficial for them. Dogs do work together, but because of so many generations of living with humans and often relying on us...they're sometimes not as well equipped as wolves in certain situations.

[@zemtek420]

You do know this video is severly skewed? I bet birds, wolves and the other animals struggled with this exercise just like the untaught dogs. I can easily teach 2 dogs to pull this rope to work together and I would be willing to bet I could teach 2 random domestic dogs faster to do this than any other animal. I gave the video a thumbs down since the New York Times should do better at reporting.

[@lostinthestorywithjeremymi9385]

@zemtek2090 Sure, you could do that. I'm just speaking on animals are capable of doing this on their own.

[@lancelotxavier9084]

So it should be “team wolves” not “lone wolf”.

[@kumerupendrauikey9437]

That why I love wolf.

[@Notawesomeatall7]

Did anyone else see how fast those wolves ate? Brings a whole new sense to "wolfing it down".

[@lostinthestorywithjeremymi9385]

I feel like if dogs were trained to work with one another with no human intervention (and also other times with humans, or both dogs and humans), it would benefit them and us. (Or let the dogs by themselves work it out in those situations.)

[@6iaZkMagW7EFs]

Rope pull test is pretty amazing for an animal. They really are intelligent...

[@diegomaxp]

incredible behaviour of the wolfs, but I think that for different species exist different cognition or intelligences

[@PetCactusA_HarmlessLittlePrick]

Maybe wolves should stick to individual sports like Archery.🐺🏹🤨

[@stewiegriffin6503]

cats wouldn't show up in the first place ?

[@isakaldazwulfazizsunus7564]

Dogs are bred and trained to look to us to solve problems. Dogs who have had to live in the streets and survived become more independant, more deliberate and they're usually more confident about solving problems on their own. But they're also usually not as easy to train as dogs who were kept by humans their entire life because they don't instinctively look to humans for guidance anymore.

[@ms.pirate]

I'm happy to be part of the dog pack 💖

[@holgmgti6044]

Has anyone ever offered skateboards or surfboards to wolves?

[@One_of_Many750]

Realistically, One Dog Could Have Pulled Both Ropes At The Same Time. Take The Slack Ends, Push Them Toward Each Other, Then When Adjacent, Pull.

[@Katrina-cq2tw]

😂 yes spirit of the wolf teachings if you want to accomplish something it takes teamwork

[@homewall744]

Wolves cooperate with wolves, dogs with humans. This is why the dog is winning genetically.

[@inlovewithi]

Genetically dogs are not winning. They have a lot of health problems, like posture problems, because they are bread by humans for a particular feature that they want, while the wolves are "bread" by survivor environmental pressures.

[@sherine9033]

Dogs don't cooperate with humans. They are trained to obey us, it's not cooperating. And they become dumber because they went through domestication even though they are the descendants of wolves

[@Haganeren]

What i don't understand is how the animal understand that the cord will not pull the treat without having two individuals. They don't seem to pull it first to see what happens and THEN get the conclusion that they need to be two, they just.. "know" somehow that they need to be two and wait for the other. Frankly, if i was in this situation, i would just pull a cord to see what happens and would not think that "maybe actually the cord won't have any effect if the two of them aren't pulled at the same time"

[@greyngreyer5]

I think a pack of sled dogs would pass this test too

[@xtianity2023]

The other dog was like: You got this bro, I'm counting on you

[@iceberg789]

can you try this experiment with random humans on road, with large enough gap that one person cant pull the both ends?

[@ms.pirate]

Put a smart phone in there and watch em fight for it

[@fatihk.8896]

Best team workers and one of the smartest animals are the wolves of the sea(KILLERWHALES)!

[@FreddyGomezThinksTooMuch]

Deliciously good, if you haven't seen this, you should.

[@zemtek420]

And how many pairs and how many tries before those other animals actually got it? I would like to see this experiment ran on bran new wolves that never seen this before. I would be willing to bet the wolves would struggle at first just like dogs. This video is skewed and giving it thumbs down because the New York Times should do better reporting.

[@vi9763]

Wonder about the results with sibling dogs that were raised together. I'm guessing more like a pac, more cooperation.

[@AHlover66]

Actually, these dogs were raised together and live in packs, just like the wolves. That is the beauty of the Wolf Science Center, where this research was done. Their wolves and dogs live in equal environments, so you can really look at genetic/evolutionary differences.

[@FuroraF]

@Sophia Schommer Could you try the set up with them and film it?? I would LOVE to se how they would behave! Cooperation is so induvidual in dogs as far as i found in my reshearch.

[@optivion]

RAD BULL DOG!!!

[@iceberg789]

it'd weird. how do they know so fat, rope pull won't work if pulled from only one end ? did they experience this before ?

[@kaydenchan7093]

I want to see how African Wild Dogs (they’re biologically not “dogs”) though fare in this test

[@daniadejonghe4980]

no dissing dogs!

[@MrYodeezy]

Could this experiment be breed specific?

[@mynameissock732]

Duke Nuke Em they seems to be different breeds but it i’m no expert

[@ozkang654]

We are domesticated by Technology too İ think we lose our inteligence too

[@abunaiN1]

dog is a degenerated wolf.

[@gustavolealgomes5448]

*humanized wolf

[@folchandre]

That means dogs are actually dunkeys...hum... and dunkeys actually are NOT dunkeys but wolves!

[@Red-et9lx]

Yeah yeah "Skateboard"👈🏻 what an excuse to hide the fact that - dogs are dumb than wolves😂

[@GTsportscar]

such an ill informed video. At least show how much training was needed to train the animals to make them do that. Ye they understand the concept of teamwork, but not by default...

[@dongwonkim5043]

They need no training

[@importantname]

how many wovles remain - how many dogs remain the dogs are winning as they work with humans - the dominant species

[@Lakota828]

Wolves were hunted to near extinction by humans. You cannot compare the two fairly.

[@Skippy19812]

I think it's a bit of a weak test to be honest. The wolves were raised in an environment where they have as little contact with humans as possible. The dogs were raised in an environment where humans solve their problems for them. Development is key here. Humans learn to speak in early childhood. If we don't learn during that short period then the brain develops differently and we have speech and language problems for the rest of our lives. We can see this in examples of domesticated "feral" children. No matter how much coaching they receive, they just can't develop a strong vocabulary. I suspect problem solving and cooperation undergoes a similar development cycle. Once you're past the stage where the brain is developing, forming new connections becomes neigh on impossible. I'd like to see this test conducted on stray dogs that were born and raised outside of a human controlled environment. I suspect the results would be very different if this were the case.

[@alphaarx3055]

Yeah but no

[@mrgameragequit6109]

It's like you felt offended because wolves are smarter than dogs when it comes to teamwork.

[@samanthareyna2466]

Lazarbeam

[@glitchfyre5188]

Dogs are dumb

[@MischievousMischief]

My guess: imo humans are egoistic beings, so without knowing they breeded dogs after their own traits...

[@Skippy19812]

If that were true then dogs would be far more cooperative than wolves since humans are the most cooperative species on the planet. Hence civilisation.

[@mercedesholmes7878]

Yes and No. There was actually a lot more to this study than is shown here. The initial researchers had not anticipated the poor performance of the dogs. They expected the dogs to outperform the wolves because they were used to working with humans. They did a number of different variations of these tests and the dogs can eventually work out on their own what they need to do, they are capable of complex thought, but they wouldn't even try. They would just find the closest human, or the door or gate the human enters/exits from, and whine or bark at them. Basically, we expected to learn that dogs were smarter because of their partnership with us. The original experiment couldn't prove or disprove the theory of who's smarter because they didn't anticipate meeting such resistance from the dogs. Basically the experiment showed that we have made dogs lazy and dependent on us. The dogs did eventually figure it out once they gave up and actually tried but the effort and time it took to get them to try made the whole initial experiment worthless as the results could not prove or disprove the theory. Dogs and wolves were both able to figure out how to work together to get the food. The wolves were much more efficient. The dogs took much longer because of their emotional attachment to us but we already know that when they do not live with humans they quickly pack up with other dogs and likely would have equaled the wolves performance. So you are correct, the experiment should have used a pack of urban strays the problem with that is that packs of stray dogs are extremely dangerous and often openly challenge humans so the risk is too high for the reward that the study brings. Wolves are wild animals but not generally aggressive towards humans. They did show how well dogs have us trained to do things for them though.