Remember the video of the dog trying to save the dying fish? Heres my rebuttal. This is a video of Tonka caching. She must know that tripe-filled hooves need dog hair and carpet fibers to survive. ;) Caching is a behavior which helps to ensure the availability of food during periods when prey is scarce. It is often performed by animals whose food abundance fluctuates (Sklepkovych and Mon-tevecchi 1996; Mech 1997). According to Defenders of Wildlife, Wolves are known for their skilled hunting of larger prey, but they’re also opportunistic scavengers. It takes a lot less effort for a wolf to feast on the cached remains of a dead animal than it does to try to take down a live one that’s five to ten times its size. Further, food is often scarce during certain times of the year and in certain places, so it pays to keep a stash hidden for those lean times. If you’ve ever seen a dog burying a bone in the backyard, they’re following the same instinctual behavior from their canid ancestors, the wolves. I had a very difficult time finding articles on this behavior in domestic dogs. Much of what I found was conjecture. This behavior has been seen in several circumstances: when a dog wants to save something for later, when the dog is uncertain or uncomfortable about eating the food at that present time, or as an instinct to protect food from predators. Regarding the altruistic dog saves a fish video, in their haste to be anthropomorphic, it appears as though many have forgotten that fish is food for a dog. Both of my dogs will do this if they arent thrilled with what I am feeding them. Usually, if they dislike the food, they will cache, and then eventually eat it, or taste it and walk away. Pongo will also whine while she does it, and then look at me as if asking for something tastier. Does your dog exhibit this behavior? If so, under what circumstances? Please share in the comments, and if anyone has any informative links about this behavior in domestic dogs from a credible source, Id love to read it. Please share; Id love this to circulate so that others with caching stories or links to studies/articles can post them here. Im fascinated by this behavior. Also, I would love to get the factual word out to people who thought the dog was so compassionate that he was saving the fish....indeed he was; saving it for later.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 06:54:32 +0000
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