Dogs Are Able To Visually Recognize Their Own Species
February 15, 2013
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe OnlineNew research reported in the journal Animal Cognition claims that dogs are able to pick out faces of other dogs on a computer screen, and can group them into a category of their own.
Dr. Dominique Autier-Dérian, who led the research along with colleagues, performed the first study to test dogs’ ability to discriminate between species and form a “dog†category in spite of the variability within the dog species.
Previous research has shown that in some species, individuals are able to recognize more easily, or are more attracted by images of, individuals belonging to their own species than those belonging to another species.
The team studied this among domestic dogs, which have the largest morphological variety among all species. There are over 400 pure breeds of dogs that have been registered.
Researchers explored whether this huge diversity among domestic dogs presented a challenge for dogs being able to recognize their species, when confronted with other species.
The team showed nine pet dogs pictures of faces from various dog breeds and cross-breeds on a computer screen for the study. They simultaneously showed these faces of dogs, along with faces of other animal species, including human faces and wild animal faces. The dogs were shown more than 144 pairs of pictures to select from during the study.
Authors of the study observed whether the dogs were able to discriminate any type of dog from other species, and could group all dogs together, regardless of breed, into a single category.
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