Scientists discover that dogs use special signals to get human’s attention, while pigs do not
This study compared the ability of dogs and pigs to communicate with humans in a specific way. The researchers used an experiment where they placed a reward (like a toy or treat) out of reach of the animals, and then watched to see how the dogs and pigs reacted when a human was present. They found that both dogs and pigs paid attention to the human when they were around, but only dogs tried to communicate with the human by looking back and forth between the human and the reward. This suggests that dogs may be better at communicating with humans in this way than pigs are. Overall, the study suggests that certain characteristics related to how animals communicate with each other may be important for them to also communicate with humans.
Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Pázmány P. S. 1/C, Budapest 1117, Hungary. MTA‑ELTE ‘Lendület’ Neuroethology of Communication Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences-Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. Doctoral School of Biology, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
