Scientists Claim to Show Jealousy in Dogs

Tue, 09 Dec 2008

Scientists in Austria claim to have shown a form of jealousy in dogs . The researchers demonstrated that dogs will stop doing a simple task when not rewarded, if another dog is present and continues to be rewarded for the performance of the same task. The pets were asked to present their paw as if they were shaking the researchers hand and were both given food. Both dogs were then asked to shake hands again, but only one continued to receive food. The dog who didn’t receive any food quickly stopped performing the task.

Dr Frederike Range from the department of neurobiology and cognition research at the University of Vienna said the study showed the influence of a rewarded partner on the behaviour of an animal . She said, ‘The only difference is one gets food and the other doesn’t, they are responding to being unequally rewarded’. Dr Range also commented that the behaviour may represent an earlier stage in the evolution of the cooperative behaviours of humans and primates .

Previously, such behaviour had only been observed in primates, though the scientists now plan to extend their research to the cooperative behaviour of wolves.

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.