Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species

Abstract Previous studies have shown that vocalizations of dogs can provide information to human companions. While acoustic signals of dogs have been intensively studied during the last decade, barking during hunting activities remains unstudied. The experiences of hunters indicate that owners can r...

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Autores principales:	Richard Policht, Ondřej Matějka, Kateřina Benediktová, Jana Adámková, Vlastimil Hart
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/850c2cfb47084716bf75109535673d45
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:850c2cfb47084716bf75109535673d452021-12-02T17:27:11ZHunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species10.1038/s41598-021-97002-22045-2322https://doaj.org/article/850c2cfb47084716bf75109535673d452021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97002-2https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Previous studies have shown that vocalizations of dogs can provide information to human companions. While acoustic signals of dogs have been intensively studied during the last decade, barking during hunting activities remains unstudied. The experiences of hunters indicate that owners can recognize what animal species has been found based on the bark of their dog. Such a phenomenon has never been tested before. We tested such an ability by comparing barks that were produced when dogs encountered four different animal species: wild boar, red fox, rabbit and fowl. Classification results of a discrimination analysis showed, that based on barks of dachshunds and terriers, it is possible to categorize towards which animal species barks were produced. The most distinctive barks were produced during encounters with the most dangerous of these animals, the wild boar. On the contrary, barks evoked by red fox encounters were classified similarly as those towards other smaller and non-dangerous animals like rabbits and fowl. Although the red fox represents a potentially dangerous species, the barking provoked was not classified with a much higher result than barking at animals that pose no threat. This might indicate that the key parameter could be the body size of the animal the dog meets. We further tested whether the degree of threat from the species of animal the dog encounters is reflected in the structure of the acoustic parameters based on the valence-arousal model. We found that barks produced in contact with a wild boar showed significantly lower frequency parameters and longest duration compared to other barks. According to these results, it seems that the variability of barking depending on the species of animal a dog encounters is an expression of the dogʼs inner state rather than functionally reference information.Richard PolichtOndřej MatějkaKateřina BenediktováJana AdámkováVlastimil HartNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Richard Policht Ondřej Matějka Kateřina Benediktová Jana Adámková Vlastimil Hart Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species
description	Abstract Previous studies have shown that vocalizations of dogs can provide information to human companions. While acoustic signals of dogs have been intensively studied during the last decade, barking during hunting activities remains unstudied. The experiences of hunters indicate that owners can recognize what animal species has been found based on the bark of their dog. Such a phenomenon has never been tested before. We tested such an ability by comparing barks that were produced when dogs encountered four different animal species: wild boar, red fox, rabbit and fowl. Classification results of a discrimination analysis showed, that based on barks of dachshunds and terriers, it is possible to categorize towards which animal species barks were produced. The most distinctive barks were produced during encounters with the most dangerous of these animals, the wild boar. On the contrary, barks evoked by red fox encounters were classified similarly as those towards other smaller and non-dangerous animals like rabbits and fowl. Although the red fox represents a potentially dangerous species, the barking provoked was not classified with a much higher result than barking at animals that pose no threat. This might indicate that the key parameter could be the body size of the animal the dog meets. We further tested whether the degree of threat from the species of animal the dog encounters is reflected in the structure of the acoustic parameters based on the valence-arousal model. We found that barks produced in contact with a wild boar showed significantly lower frequency parameters and longest duration compared to other barks. According to these results, it seems that the variability of barking depending on the species of animal a dog encounters is an expression of the dogʼs inner state rather than functionally reference information.
format	article
author	Richard Policht Ondřej Matějka Kateřina Benediktová Jana Adámková Vlastimil Hart
author_facet	Richard Policht Ondřej Matějka Kateřina Benediktová Jana Adámková Vlastimil Hart
author_sort	Richard Policht
title	Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species
title_short	Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species
title_full	Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species
title_fullStr	Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species
title_full_unstemmed	Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species
title_sort	hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/850c2cfb47084716bf75109535673d45
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Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species

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