Study Suggests That Dogs’ Faces Evolved To Better Connect With Humans

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She suggests that barking dogs might have been more effective at alerting danger than howling dogs howling.

Professor emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and evolutionary biologist and animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff cautions that these preliminary results may not prove to be very helpful in determining the personalities of the dogs.

Bekoff worked with coyotes, wolves, and other wild animals that had been raised by humans. He said that although adult animals are not as loyal as dogs, coyotes and wolves can be trained to communicate with humans. They are social animals, and no one has ever tested their communication skills with humans.

Burrows and Omstead point out that domesticated horses or cats’ facial muscles don’t change as much as wild horses or wild cats. This is in contrast to what happens with dogs and wolves.