A Query about Dog

[Guest guest]

> Generally it is believed that Dog was the First in the Animal

>Kingdom who befriended with the Anicient Man(The Hunter).Why did

>the dog has chosen this?.

 

 

Dogs like things that smell bad, & human leadership frequently stinks.

 

Keen observers and astute archaeologists may eventually

recognize that the association of humans & dogs goes back far beyond

the advent of hunting as a routine human activity.

 

Dogs do in fact follow many species of predator, to scavenge

carcasses. Wolves and coyotes follow pumas, jackals and dholes

follow lions and tigers, etc.

 

No doubt dogs followed human predators in equal anticipation

of scavenging opportunities; but this was a later development, and

occurred after a relationship of trust had already evolved among dogs

and humans.

 

I say this because scavengers who follow predators usually

avoid actual contact with the predators. Predators are dangerous;

they can kill and eat scavengers as readily as vegetarian prey.

 

Wolves and coyotes only attempt to drive pumas off a carcass,

for example, when they have the pumas far outnumbered, and usually

when the pumas are no longer hungry.

 

Otherwise, the wolves and coyotes stay far away.

 

However, a much closer relationship may be observed among

jackals and baboons, Indian street dogs and street macaques, and

coyotes and crows.

 

The latter relationship may be the most instructive. Crows

do not just follow coyotes to scavenge from whatever coyotes leave.

Rather, crows often actively scout for coyotes, and lead them to

such finds as a roadkilled deer. The coyotes then do the hard work

of dismembering the carcass, while the crows alternate between

standing guard and feasting among the coyotes.

 

Coyotes never eat crow. But they do pay keen attention when

crows talk to them, and I have often seen crows flying unusually low

among trees, stopped and been very quiet, and have been rewarded to

see one or more coyotes loping after the crows, who caw frequently

to keep the coyotes moving in the right direction.

 

Jackals and baboons have a similar relationship, in which

the two species scout for each other and help to protect each other

against large predators. Baboons are helpless against a leopard,

for example, but a pack of jackals can keep a leopard at bay while

baboons escape. Jackals cannot climb, so have limited ability to

see danger; but baboons are good climbers, and can alert jackals as

well as their own troupes to whatever they see on the horizon.

 

There is some uneasiness among jackals and baboons, because

either species can harm the other, but baboons in general allow

jackals to get much closer to them than even members of rival baboon

troupes.

 

The alliance is primarily defensive. Baboons and jackals

learned long ago that cooperation improves their safety.

 

The relationship of Indian street dogs and street macaques is

similar, yet they are direct competitors for food waste, as well,

and dogs who are habituated to humans will drive street macaques out

of the neighborhood.

 

Conversely, though, dogs who are not habituated to humans

are often bonded with macaque troupes to the point of nursing

orphaned macaques. I thought this was unusual the first time I saw a

photo of it. I have now seen many photos of it, taken at different

times and places, & apparently it is a phenomenon that has been

observed since ancient times--not a universal, but common enough

that thousands of people have seen it.

 

Almost certainly, in my opinion, trust developed first.

Later, dogs may have helped humans learn to hunt. Still later,

unfortunately, humans began hunting and eating dogs. That,

however, probably never could have happened if dogs had not trusted

humans enough to help us survive many hard times when dogs might

easily have made meals of every last human, if we had not already

been accepted as valuable allies in avoiding dire wolves,

sabre-toothed tigers, cave bears, etc.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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