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Catch a lover game dog8/5/2023 ![]() The simple answer to the question of whether play in wild wolves resembles that of our canine companions is, "Yes, it does." Here's a summary of Rick's seminal work. Of course, her critics were totally incorrect as has been shown by subsequent research on chimpanzees and a wide variety of other animals. Jane Goodall's early groundbreaking research on wild chimpanzees in which she named each individual and wrote about their unique personalities, a practice for which she was initially criticized by her professors, many of whom had never seen a wild animal of any type. () Rick's descriptions of the wolves of Yellowstone remind me of Dr. Rick had previously seen a sickly lone pup on a hill who was shunned by the other pups and watched 21 go up to the pup simply "to hang out with him." () He later notes that this high-ranking male loved to play with pups more than any other alpha male. He notes that dogs' personalities come from their wolf ancestors such as alpha male wolf 21 who showed empathy for a young pup. They also display a wide range of personalities. Rick also offers detailed descriptions of the rich and deep emotional lives of these wolves, including empathy for others. He also has compiled more than 12,000 pages of detailed notes. From June 2000 to August 2015 he went out into the field for 6,175 consecutive days, and by the end of the day of February 27, 2019, he had 100,000 wolf sightings. The amount of time Rick spent watching these amazing beings is staggering. There's also much more about all aspects of wolf behavior from his extremely meticulous observations and stories about the individual Yellowstone wolves he knew well and followed for many years. ![]() ![]() I'm often asked how play behavior observed in domestic dogs resembles that of their wild ancestors, wolves, and I was thrilled to read a forthcoming book by wolf expert Rick McIntyre called The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog in which there are numerous detailed descriptions of all sorts of play by wild wolves of all ages and of different social/dominance ranks living in Yellowstone National Park. My own focus has been on canids, members of the "dog family," for whom there are many detailed studies of what they do when they play and why they play-why play has evolved and what it's good for. Social, solitary, and object play have been described in numerous and diverse nonhuman animals (animals).
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