Wild dingos remember human gestures from their domestication days

Washington, December 14 (ANI): A new research by scientists has shown that although dingos are no longer domesticated, they still retain the ability to read human gestures.

Dingoes were semi domesticated village dogs once, in Southeast Asia.

Then, about 4,000 years ago, they got loose in Australia, where their behavior reverted to that of their ancestor, the wolf.

They howl, live in packs, and fear humans.

But, according to a report in Natural History Magazine, they have retained at least one mark of domestication: an ability to read human gestures.

At the tender age of four months, ordinary dogs will spontaneously investigate objects that humans point to or even just gaze at.

In contrast, wolves-even when reared by people-only attend to such gestures after months of intensive training.

Bradley P. Smith and his graduate adviser, Carla A. Litchfield of the University of South Australia in Magill, wondered how dingoes measure up.

They presented seven tame but untrained dingoes with two flowerpots, one containing meat.

In a series of trials, an experimenter tried out ten gestures to indicate the pot hiding the treat.

The dingoes raced straight to it in response to most of the gestures, such as pointing at, tapping on, or standing directly behind the pot.

When the experimenter merely gazed at it, however, the dingoes didn't get the message.

In the course of domestication, dogs' ability to understand human gestures was probably selected for.

In spite of their wild ways, dingoes have kept most of that skill. (ANI)