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Dogs form stronger bonds with humans than pigs, according to research. Learn about the study comparing dog and pig attachment behavior in human relationships.
No one can deny that dogs and humans share a powerful bond. But how does that bond compare to those between people and other animal species, such as pigs? Researchers at the ELTE Department of Ethology in Budapest aimed to answer that question by investigating if dogs form stronger bonds with humans than pigs.
Using the so-called “Strange Situation Test,” researchers compared the behaviors of young intensively-socialized companion pigs and dogs towards both their caregivers and a stranger.
“Like dogs, pigs are group-living and extremely social animals. When kept as companions, they have a similar role in human families to that of dogs,” says study co-author, Paula Pérez Fraga. “This is why they are a good model species for direct comparisons with companion dogs.”
Researchers found that dogs, but not pigs, exhibited the specific behavior pattern typical of the attachment bond.
The findings show that dogs form stronger bonds with humans than pigs. They suggest that the domestication process, along with intense early exposure to humans, does not sufficiently trigger human-analog attachment in companion animals. In the case of dogs, the key feature may be their dependency on, and cooperation with humans.
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