title: Assessment of attachment behaviour to human caregivers in wolf pups (Canis lupus lupus).
abstract: Previous research suggested that 16-week old dog pups, but not wolf pups, show attachment behaviour to a human caregiver. Attachment to a caregiver in dog pups has been demonstrated by differential responding to a caregiver compared to a stranger in the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test. We show here that 3-7 week old wolf pups also show attachment-like behaviour to a human caregiver as measured by preferential proximity seeking, preferential contact, and preferential greeting to a human caregiver over a human stranger in a modified and counterbalanced version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test. In addition, our results show that preferential responding to a caregiver over a stranger is only apparent following brief isolation. In initial episodes, wolf pups show no differentiation between the caregiver and the stranger; however, following a 2-min separation, the pups show proximity seeking, more contact, and more greeting to the caregiver than the stranger. These results suggest intensive human socialization of a wolf can lead to attachment--like responding to a human caregiver during the first two months of a wolf pup's life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States. Electronic address: njhall1@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: Nathaniel J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: School of Cognitive Science, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lord
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anne-Marie K
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.
authors.forename: Clive D L
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wynne
authors.affiliation: Animal and Rangeland Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States.
authors.forename: Monique A R
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Udell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D017028:Caregivers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D019596:Wolves
keywords: Attachment; Canis lupus; Domestication; Strange Situation Test; Wolves