Data from: Differences in greeting behaviour towards humans with varying levels of familiarity in hand-reared wolves (Canis lupus)

Socialized wolves' relationship with humans is a much debated, but important question in light of dog domestication. Earlier findings reported no attachment to the caretaker at four months of age in a Strange Situation Test, while recently attachment to the caretaker was reported at a few weeks of age in a similar paradigm. To explore wolf–human relationship, we analysed behaviours of hand reared, extensively socialized wolves towards four visitor types: foster-parents, close acquaintances, persons met once before, and complete strangers during a greeting episode. As hypothesized, in the greeting context subjects showed more intense and friendly behaviour towards foster-parents, than other visitor types, which may reflect familiarity and affinity. However, differences were more pronounced in the group situation (at six months of age) than in the individual situation (at 12 and 24 months), suggesting that unique status of foster parents may become less distinct as wolves get older, while exploration of novel social agents is expressed more with older age. Fear related behaviour patterns were only found in the individual situation, mainly displayed towards strangers. We showed that, in case of extensively socialized wolves, distinctive affiliation and affinity towards the foster parent prevails into adulthood.

从犬类驯化的研究视角来看，社会化狼群与人类的关系是一个备受争议却又极具研究价值的重要课题。此前有研究表明，在4月龄时通过陌生情境测试（Strange Situation Test）未发现狼群对照料者存在依恋行为；而近期采用同类实验范式的研究则显示，狼群在数周龄时便会对照料者产生依恋。为探究狼与人之间的关系，本研究分析了经人工抚育、充分社会化的狼群对四类访客的行为表现：养父母、熟络的相识者、仅见过一次的人以及完全陌生的人，实验场景为问候互动环节。正如研究假设所示，在问候场景中，实验对象对养父母的行为表现得更为热情友好，相较于其他三类访客，这一结果或可反映出熟悉度与亲近感的影响。不过，此类行为差异在6月龄的群体情境中表现得更为显著，而在12、24月龄的个体情境中则相对减弱，这表明养父母的独特身份会随狼群年龄增长而逐渐淡化；同时对陌生社交对象的探索行为会随年龄增长而愈发明显。与恐惧相关的行为模式仅在个体情境中被观测到，且主要指向陌生访客。本研究证实，对于充分社会化的狼群而言，对养父母的独特依恋与亲近感会持续至成年阶段。