Fetching With Wolves: What It Means That A Wolf Puppy Will Retrieve A Ball
Some wolf puppies will unexpectedly play "fetch," researchers say, showing that an urge to retrieve a ball might be an ancient wolf trait and not a result of dog domestication.
Some wolf puppies are unexpectedly willing to play fetch, according to scientists who saw young wolves retrieve a ball thrown by a stranger and bring it back at that person's urging.
This behavior wouldn't be surprising in a dog. But wolves are thought to be less responsive to human cues because they haven't gone through thousands of years of domestication.
Exactly how dogs emerged from a now-extinct population of ancient wolves is a mystery. Wolves are large, dangerous carnivores, and yet they were the first cozying up to people, eventually becoming their "best friend."
