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.鉴于犬类驯化的研究背景，经广泛社会化的灰狼与人类的关系是一个饱受争议却又至关重要的科学议题。此前的研究结果显示，在4月龄时通过陌生情境测试（Strange Situation Test）未观测到灰狼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表明，灰狼在数周龄时便会对照料者产生依恋。为探究灰狼与人类的互动关系，本研究针对四类访客场景下人工抚育且经广泛社会化的灰狼行为展开分析：寄养父母、熟识者、仅谋面一次的人员以及完全陌生者，观测场景为问候互动环节。正如研究假设所示，在问候互动场景中，受试灰狼对寄养父母的行为相较于其他访客类型更为热切友善，这或可反映其对熟悉个体的亲近与归属感。不过，群体情境（6月龄时）中的行为差异相较于个体情境（12、24月龄时）更为显著，这表明随着灰狼年龄增长，寄养父母的独特身份辨识度会逐渐降低，而对新社交伙伴的探索行为则随年龄增加更为突出。与恐惧相关的行为模式仅在个体情境中被观测到，且主要针对陌生访客。本研究证实，对于经广泛社会化的灰狼而言，对寄养父母的独特依恋与亲近感会持续至成年阶段。