Study Reveals The Similar Social Intelligence Of Dogs & Toddlers; Chimpanzees Not Even Close

By Carrie Winters - 01 Mar '17 05:30AM

A recent study reveals that dogs and toddlers have similar social intelligence. The social patterns between dogs and kids at two years old are close. The researchers did the study towards kids, chimpanzees, and dogs. The study indicated that the social intelligence of dogs is more advanced that those of the chimpanzees. The researchers performed tests to the subjects that reveal mostly about the cognitive functions.

According to a report, a new study by the University of Arizona researchers suggests that dogs have closer characteristics to humans. The study is specifically directed at toddlers that are two years old. It seems that the social intelligence among the two subjects is closely similar to each other.

A report indicated that the study was done by Evan McLean who is a director of the Arizona Canine Cognition Center at the University of Arizona. The study has also been published in the Animal Behavior Journal. The result of the study that involved dogs, toddlers and chimpanzees indicated that chimpanzees were good at physical environment and not with communication skills. Dogs and toddlers, however, turned out to have similar communication skills.

Meanwhile, the researchers in the study assessed 552 dogs. These included pets, military explosive detection dogs and assistance-dogs-in-training. The dogs that were assessed were from different breeds. The study included a game-based approach. Some toys were hidden and the dogs were given non-verbal instructions to find the toys.

The data gathered from dogs were then compared to the data gathered from 105 2-year olds that were given the same assessment. The same assessments were also given to 106 chimpanzees from the African Wildlife Sanctuary. The researchers concluded that the chimpanzees lack the cognitive skills to identify what the verbal communication meant. However, dogs and toddlers were quick in the cognitive communication and were able to identify what the researchers were asking them to do.