Serendipity: moments after writing about the results of research comparing the ability of chimps and human children to search for a treat concealed under a cup in a row of cups, I opened Nicholas Wade’s very interesting book Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors.
He writes about the domestication of the dog from wolves, in East Asia, and the evolutionary question mark that leaves behind. In the 20th century, Russian scientists domesticated silver foxes but it took “40 years, 45,000 foxes, and 30 to 35 generations” to do it — and there, the goal was known from the outset. Human beings could not foresee the result of “creating” the dog, so it’s not obvious what drove this pioneering work of experimental breeding.
Anyway, Wade recounts, an earlier test was performed with chimps, cups, and treats. Chimps didn’t respond to very “broad hints” from researchers as to which cup concealed the treat. You could tap it, stare at it — they didn’t catch on. (Must not have been motivated.) But you know what creature did pick up on body language, and responded immediately to the hints from the scientists?
Of course, it was dogs, which are born with the ability to read our body language. Wolves also bombed the test, suggesting that the trick, with dogs and puppies, is “innate” and somehow the result of breeding.