科学家发现狼是天生的赌徒
大多数人类并非大赌徒：和有一半的几率赢得200块钱相比，我们更喜欢保证能得到的100块钱。如今，科学家发现，当涉及到打赌，狗和人类有很多相似之处。另一方面，狼却是冒险家。
来自奥地利埃恩施特布伦狼科学中心的研究人员，测试了来自不同种群的7只狼和7条狗的赌博倾向。他们让这些犬科动物从桌子上倒置的碗里作出选择，这些动物则通过用爪子或口碰触碗做到这一点。狼和狗已被灌输这样的理念：第一个碗总是藏着尝起来没有什么味道的食团，而第二个碗里藏的是一块美味的肉或者不能吃的石头，两者的几率各占一半。平均而言，在80%的试验中，狼会选择带有风险性的选项，而狗仅在58%的试验中作出这一选择。科学家在日前出版的《心理学前沿》杂志上发表了这一成果。
原因何在？研究人员表示，当人类在3.2万～1.8万年前驯化狗时，它们从四处猎食变成由人类喂养。此后，狗可能进化出一种更加谨慎的本性。而狼仍坚守着猎食这种带有冒险性的生活方式。该发现同此前证明食物来源不确定的物种也更有可能孤注一掷的研究相符，猎食猴子并且以季节性水果为食的黑猩猩就是典型的例子。（徐徐）
These wolves are born gamblers, unlike cautious dogs
By Virginia MorellSep. 1, 2016 , 4:00 PM
Most humans aren’t big gamblers: We prefer a guaranteed 100 bucks over a 50-50 chance of winning 200. Now, scientists have discovered that when it comes to betting, dogs are a lot like us. Wolves, on the other hand, are risk takers. Researchers at the Wolf Science Center in Ernstbrunn, Austria, tested seven wolves (above) and seven dogs from separate packs on their gambling inclinations. They let the canids choose among upside-down bowls on a table, which the animals did by touching them with their paws or muzzles. Wolves and dogs had been taught that the first bowl always hid an insipid-tasting food pellet, whereas the second bowl covered either a delectable bit of meat or an inedible stone 50% of the time. In 80% of the trials on average, the wolves chose the risky option, whereas the dogs did so in only 58% of theirs, the scientists report today in Frontiers in Psychology. The reason? Dogs likely evolved a more cautious nature after they shifted from hunting to scavenging when humans domesticated them between 18,000 and 32,000 years ago, the researchers say. But wolves still hunt, a dangerous and risky lifestyle. The findings fit with previous studies that show that species with uncertain food resources, like chimpanzees that hunt monkeys and feed on seasonal fruits, are also more likely to gamble.   
转载自：http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2016/9/355426.shtm