Moscow's Stray Dogs Evolving Greater Intelligence, Including a Mastery of the Subway

[Ichingcarpenter]

Moscow's Stray Dogs Evolving Greater Intelligence, Including a Mastery of the Subway


For every 300 Muscovites, there's a stray dog wandering the streets of Russia's capital. And according to Andrei Poyarkov, a researcher at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, the fierce pressure of urban living has driven the dogs to evolve wolf-like traits, increased intelligence, and even the ability to navigate the subway.


SNIP......

But beggar dogs have evolved the most specialized behavior. Relying on scraps of food from commuters, the beggar dogs can not only recognize which humans are most likely to give them something to eat, but have evolved to ride the subway. Using scents, and the ability to recognize the train conductor's names for different stops, they incorporate many stations into their territories.


Additionally, Poyarkov says the pack structure of the beggars reflects a reliance on brain over brawn for survival. In the beggar packs, the smartest dog, not the most physically dominant, occupies the alpha male position.



http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/moscows-stray-dogs-evolving-greater-intelligence-wolf-characteristics-and-mastery-subway

[leveymg]

1. What a perfect metaphor for post-collapse Russian society. However,

the key is to have a lot of brawn on the bench backing you up when your pack takes over the banks and oil companies.

[eShirl]

2. Russian site dedicated to individual strays (translated)

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.metrodog.ru%2F&act=url

[xchrom]

3. i, for one, welcome our new doggy over lords. nt

[Orrex]

4. Assume the position!

Wait, that didn't come out how I meant it.

[xchrom]

5. ...

:spray:

[phantom power]

6. Anybody interested in the OP will probably like this book:

"Regular" dogs possess most of these talents already, although some natural selection may be fine tuning them:

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Dog-What-Dogs-Smell/dp/1416583408

(interesting, that typical dogs are *not* as pack oriented as wolves)

[Sequoia]

8. Thanks for this and that article up above.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Re-evolved wolf-life traits. They were wolves to begin with, yes?