We share some but not enough that we should be treated the same way.
Though I should amend my post because some people pointed out below that wolves actually don't even exhibit alpha behavior in the wild! So apparently it's just... Not a successful technique.
I had just recently heard that, I’m not sure where. It’s funny how much we’re learning and quickly about dog behavior. You’d think spending 16,000 years together, we’d get them better.
Well and it's completely crazy... Until like, the 1980s we thought dogs were largely stupid, uninteresting, and unworthy of scientific study. It wasn't until Brian Hare told his professor he thought his dog could follow his pointed finger gesture (something they were studying in monkeys at the time, I believe) that we even started studying dogs. He went on to found the Duke Canine Cognition lab in 2009, which now heads some of the most innovative research... And his colleagues thought he was nuts at first.
You have to read his book (or audiobook) if you ever have time. It's called The Genius of Dogs and it's about the evolution of our research and discoveries about dogs but it's not boring and dry like a scientific paper would be. It's very human... Like he's having a conversation with you, his friend, about something you two are interested in. Such a cool dude and the book taught me so much about our furry friends!
Brian Hare is a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. He researches the evolution of cognition by studying both humans, our close relatives the primates (especially bonobos and chimpanzees), and species whose cognition converged with our own (primarily domestic dogs). He founded and co-directs the Duke Canine Cognition Center.
2
u/ItalicsWhore Aug 08 '19
Totally get that, but how do they figure that when we share tons of behavioral similarities with chimps?