Why Are Dogs So Friendly? Science Finally Has an Answer
Our pet canines have modifications in their qualities that make them more amiable than wolves, another investigation says.
To Bridgett von Holdt's 11-month-old English sheepdog Marla, the entire world is a friend she has yet to meet.
“She’s hypersocial. I even had her genotyped,” von Holdt admits, somewhat sheepishly (sorry).
Von Holdt’s interest is no casual curiosity. The Princeton evolutionary biologist and colleagues have spent the last three years studying the underlying genetic basis for social behavior in dogs and wolves. (Read why dogs are even more like us than we thought.)
Studies have shown that dogs are more sociable than wolves raised in similar circumstances, generally paying more attention to humans and following our directions and commands more effectively. (See "Can Dogs Feel Our Emotions? Yawn Study Suggests Yes.")
Von Holdt’s background in evolutionary genetics made her wonder about the potential genetic basis for these differences.
Their July 19 study in Science Advances provides an intriguing clue: Hypersocial dogs like Marla carry variants of two genes called GTF2I and GTF2IRD1. Deletion of those genes in people causes Williams syndrome, which is characterized by elfin facial features, cognitive difficulties, and a tendency to love everyone.
Von Holdt suspects that the gene variants in dogs inhibit their normal function, leading to the same issues seen in humans with Williams syndrome.
“We may have bred a behavioral syndrome into a companion animal,” she says.
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