Genetic distance from wolves affects family dogs’ reactions towards howls

Funder: MTA-ELTE 'Lendület' Neuroethology of Communication Research Group (Grant No. 95025) Funder: Austrian Science Fund (FWF): P33928-B Funder: Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant code: PP00P3_163850) NCCR Evolving Language, Swiss National Science Foundation Agreement #51NF40_180888...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lehoczki, Fanni, Andics, Attila, Kershenbaum, Arik, Kubinyi, Enikő, Passilongo, Daniela, Root-Gutteridge, Holly, Range, Friederike, Palacios Sánchez, Vicente, Schmidt, Lori, Townsend, Simon W, Watson, Stuart K, Faragó, Tamás
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature Research 2023
Subjects:
Dogs
Animals
Wolves
Vocalization
Animal
Canidae
Domestication
Species Specificity
Canis lupus
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.93697
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/346276
Description
Summary:Funder: MTA-ELTE 'Lendület' Neuroethology of Communication Research Group (Grant No. 95025) Funder: Austrian Science Fund (FWF): P33928-B Funder: Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant code: PP00P3_163850) NCCR Evolving Language, Swiss National Science Foundation Agreement #51NF40_180888 Funder: Hungarian Academy of Sciences via the János Bolyai Research Scholarship (BO/751/20) ÚNKP-20-5; ÚNKP-21-5 and ÚNKP-22-5 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (ÚNKP-20-5-ELTE-337; 21-5-ELTE-1061; 22-5-ELTE-475) Domestication dramatically changes behaviour, including communication, as seen in the case of dogs (Canis familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus). We tested the hypothesis that domestication may affect an ancient, shared communication form of canids, the howling which seems to have higher individual variation in dogs: the perception and usage of howls may be affected by the genetic relatedness of the breeds to their last common ancestor with wolves (‘root distance’) and by other individual features like age, sex, and reproductive status. We exposed 68 purebred dogs to wolf howl playbacks and recorded their responses. We identified an interaction between root distance and age on the dogs’ vocal and behavioural responses: older dogs from more ancient breeds responded longer with howls and showed more stress behaviours. Our results suggest that domestication impacts vocal behaviour significantly: disintegrating howling, a central, species-specific communication form of canids and gradually eradicating it from dogs’ repertoire.

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