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Posted: 6th September 2016

Wolves 'more prone to risk taking' than dogs
wolves
A wolf's survival is dependent on hunting, which is successful 10-50 per cent of the time.
Study examines foraging behaviour of two species

Wolves are more likely to take risks when it comes to foraging than dogs, a new study suggests.

A small group of identically raised wolves and dogs from the Wolf Science Centre in Austria were set a series of foraging tasks.

Subjects were allowed to choose between a guaranteed, but less preferred, food item (i.e. a dry pellet), and a more preferred food item (a piece of meat) that only appeared 50 per cent of the time.

Findings published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology show that wolves chose the 'risky option' 70-90 per cent of the time, whereas dogs chose risk 38-76 per cent of the time.

Although wolves and dogs are closely related, their feeding ecologies and explorative tendencies are very different. A wolf's survival is dependent on hunting, which is successful 10-50 per cent of the time. Free-ranging dogs, on the other hand, are largely scavengers that rely on human produce - a more stable resource.

Researchers say their findings support the theory that the less reliable an animal's staple food source, the more the species is willing to take risks.

Similar results have been seen in foraging studies on non-human primates and birds. In addition, recent research on identically raised wolf and dog pups found wolves were more inclined to explore a new environment and novel object.

While further research is needed, authors conclude that their findings are most likely down to the different feeding ecologies of wolves and dogs. Further work on scavengers and predators could shed new light on how a species' feeding ecology impacts their preference for risk.



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