Two Wolves and a Bicycle

Diary entry, 23.11.2011, guest

Pictures of the day (2 images)   

What are two wolves doing with a bicycle? They are not learning to ride it (not this time anyway! ). They are being tested on their level of neophobia. The test consist in placing an object the animals have never saw before in the test enclosure and then let the animals in and see how long it will take before they approach it and how long they investigate it. On a very basic analysis we can say that the longer it takes for the animal to approach the object the more neophobic the animal is. But it’s not so easy. All the animals, wolves and dogs, will be tested alone, in pairs with each pack mate and with their whole pack, each time with a different object to see if their reaction toward a novel object changes or not - depending on whom they are with.