Piloting a new prosociality paradigm in dogs and wolves: The location choice task

• Published in: Behavioural processes Vol. 162; pp. 79 - 85
• Main Authors: Dale, Rachel, Despraz, Marie-Noémie, Marshall-Pescini, Sarah, Range, Friederike
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.05.2019; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: byproducts; Canid; Canidae; Canis lupus; dogs; Domestication; humans; Methodology; Primates; Prosociality; Wolves; Methodology; Canid; Prosociality
• ISSN: 0376-6357; 1872-8308; 1872-8308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2019.01.004

•Piloting of a new paradigm to test for prosocial tendencies in wolves and dogs.•The method was adapted from a T-maze experiment carried out with rats.•In this task neither wolves nor dogs were prosocial.•Possible explanations, such as learning opportunities and task understanding are considered. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether or not dogs (Canis familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) show prosociality in a simple T-maze experiment based on a previous study by Hernandez-Lallement et al. (2015). Prosociality, i.e. “voluntary behaviour that benefits others”, was initially thought to be uniquely human and, to trace its origin, has mainly been investigated in non-human primates. More recently however, some non-primate species showed considerable amounts of prosociality, suggesting convergent evolutionary paths. Here we tested if wolves and dogs are prosocial in a novel paradigm and, secondly, whether prosociality in dogs is a by-product of domestication or an ancestral trait shared with wolves. With the exception of one wolf, the current task did not reveal a prosocial response in either species, despite the same subjects showing prosocial tendencies in other tasks. Prosociality has been difficult to experimentally observe and it presents a methodological challenge. We are still at the beginning of this journey in Canids and this study adds another piece to the puzzle of how best to investigate this behaviour.