Search results for Dog

Plants & Animals Jan 30, 2023

Power struggles in nature can be more subtle, nuanced and strategic than just dog-eat-dog

Scientists used to think power in animals played out in a tidy and simple way. Nature is a dog-eat-dog place. Rams butt heads in a thunderous spectacle, and the winning male gets to mate with a female. Bigger, stronger, meaner ...

Plants & Animals Jan 12, 2023

Aggressiveness of pet dogs is influenced by life history and owner's characteristics, study suggests

Dogs walked every day by their owners are less aggressive. Dogs owned by women bark less at strangers. Heavier dogs tend to be less disobedient than lighter pets. Pugs, Bulldogs, Shih Tzus and other short-snouted breeds may ...

Social Sciences Jan 11, 2023

Is it OK to kick a robot dog?

Last Saturday night, a young woman out on the town in Brisbane saw a dog-shaped robot trotting towards her and did what many of us might have felt an urge to do: she gave it a solid kick in the head.

Plants & Animals Jan 11, 2023

Why do our dogs and cats bring us dead animals?

What do a little penguin, a baby rabbit, a black rat and a Krefft's glider have in common? They've all been presented to me (when dead) by my animal companions. Chances are, if you live with a cat or dog, you've also been ...

Plants & Animals Jan 10, 2023

Are dogs left- or right-handed? What the science says

The vast majority of people use one hand or the other for most things—and for nearly 90% of the human population this is the right hand. Some 10% to 13% of humans are left-handed, with men being three times more likely ...

Molecular & Computational biology Dec 15, 2022

Screening a puppy's DNA methylome may help predict how energetic or fearful they will be

Anyone who's ever had a dog knows how different one can be from another. For example, they can be reserved or friendly, playful or calm, fearful or bold, and prone to bark or fetch or not. Research has shown that some of ...

Plants & Animals Dec 12, 2022

Genetic research confirms your dog's breed influences its personality—but so do you

Over thousands of years of firm friendship between humans and dogs, we have successfully created about 350 different breeds. We've relied on terriers for hunting, sheepdogs for herding, and all for companionship—but how ...

Molecular & Computational biology Dec 8, 2022

Domestic dog lineages reveal genetic drivers of behavioral diversification

From the excitable sheep dog to the aloof Shiba Inu, and all breeds in between, dogs have unique and diverse behavioral traits. By analyzing DNA samples from over 200 dog breeds along with nearly 50,000 pet-owner surveys, ...

Plants & Animals Dec 7, 2022

Reading the room: Humans struggle to identify aggression in dogs, other humans

As a species, humans are constantly interpreting signals to assess social situations and make predictions about what could happen next. Being able to tell if someone else, whether human or animal, is happy with us, about ...

Veterinary medicine Dec 1, 2022

Pit bull attacks in South Africa—a historian sheds light on the issues

Pit bulls have been in the news in South Africa after a series of deadly attacks on humans by the dogs. There have been revenge attacks on the dogs and politicians have called for their ban—tapping into a history of dogs ...

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