Wolf puppies can play fetch just like dogs, scientists discover

Wolves seem to like to play fetch just like dogs, scientists have found.

The discovery was made by chance when researchers in Sweden were observing the behaviour of wolf pups.

They found that three eight-week-old pups spontaneously showed an interest in a ball and even returned it to a stranger after some encouragement.

It came as a huge surprise to scientists since it has been theorized that only dogs have the ability to respond to cues, as a consequence of their domestication by humans about 15,000 years ago.

Turns out that wolves can fetch! Check out our paper on how standing variation in the expression of human-directed behaviour in ancestral populations could have been an important target for early selective pressures exerted during dog domestication https://t.co/P7OMcScbro pic.twitter.com/4QWXd3Cwl2

— Christina Hansen Wheat (@ChristinaHWheat) January 16, 2020

The study appears in the journal iScience.

"When I saw the first wolf puppy retrieving the ball I literally got goosebumps," said Christina Hansen Wheat of Stockholm University.

"It was so unexpected, and I immediately knew that this meant that if variation in human-directed play behavior exists in wolves, this behavior could have been a potential target for early selective pressures exerted during dog domestication."

Wheat said the first two wolf pup litters they tried throwing balls for didn’t show any interest.

But the third litter not only showed an interest, but also responded to cues from humans.

"It was very surprising that we had wolves actually retrieving the ball," said Wheat.

"I did not expect that. I do not think any of us did. It was especially surprising that the wolves retrieved the ball for a person they had never met before."

She added: "Wolf puppies showing human-directed behavior could have had a selective advantage in early stages of dog domestication.”