Dogs, unlike their wild relatives, are not able to determine causal relationships between events.
An international group of scientists from Austria, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK have found that the domestication of the wolf (Canis lupus) has led to a decrease in the level of intelligence of the animal. Dogs, unlike their wild relatives, are not able to determine causal relationships between events. The article zoologists was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Biologists have compared intellectual abilities of 14 dogs and 12 wolves with the help of specialized tests. Animals had to determine which of the two containers was food. The wolves and the dogs were watching the gestures and facial expressions of a man who showed where the food was hidden, and made the right choice. However, only wolves could find food without human intervention by certain characteristics, such as noise, which made the food when you shake the container, or the size of the vessel.
According to scientists, the ability to understand cause and effect necessary for the wolves to survive in the wild. Dogs are a subspecies of the wolf and were domesticated 40-12 thousand years ago, accustomed to the fact that food gives them. This in turn contributes to the deterioration of their cognitive abilities.
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