How have scientists proved that dogs can be jealous?

Scientists have long proven that dogs aresome of the smartest pets. Some researchers are confident that many dog ​​breeds have the intelligence of 7-year-old children and perfectly understand the emotions and speech of their owners. Many people may also have noticed that dogs get jealous when their owner starts playing with other animals. Sometimes they are simply worried and rush from side to side, and in some situations they generally show aggression and may attack a potential rival. Scientists have recently shown that dogs can actually show jealousy. To do this, they conducted a laboratory experiment, where they provoked this unpleasant feeling in animals. Let's find out how the scientific research went.

Dogs can be jealous and scientists have proven it

What is jealousy?

From a psychological point of view, jealousy isnegative feeling in interpersonal relationships, which arises with a lack of attention from the partner. This feeling manifests itself at times when the desired attention is given to the other person. It is believed that jealousy is necessary for people to protect important relationships. Without a doubt, this is one of the most unpleasant experiences that can arise even at a very early age. In a recent experiment, it became clear that even dogs are jealous. However, scientists have known about this for a long time, but they did not have scientific proof. Now it is.

It is believed that the intelligence of some dogs is at the level of 7-year-olds.

How jealous are dogs?

Researchers from New Zealand led byProfessor Amalia Bastos conducted an experiment, the results of which were published in the scientific journal SAGE Journals. They first conducted a survey, which found that 80% of dog owners observed jealousy from their pets. In the second stage of the scientific work, the scientists assembled a group of 18 dogs, which were given the opportunity to observe how their owners played with either another dog or a fleece top hat. The real dog played the role of a potential rival, and the top hat was needed to compare reactions.

Surprisingly, dogs are less jealous of ordinary toys. But there are such cases.

While observing the reaction of dogs, scientistsnoticed that animals are really jealous when the owner plays with another animal. When a person touched the fleece top, the pets were indifferent to it. Also, as part of the scientific work, the researchers tried to put a barrier between the two dogs so that the subject did not see what exactly the person was playing with. In this case, the dogs thought in advance that the owner was paying attention to another individual and also began to get jealous.

Here's another proof of the developed intelligence of dogs.

Scientists already knew that dogs can be jealous,therefore it is not such a big discovery. The most interesting thing is that dogs can get jealous even when they do not see with their own eyes the interaction of the owner and a potential rival. According to Amalia Batos, this is the first evidence that dogs can mentally imagine situations that make them feel jealous. With all this, it's too early to say that dogs feel jealous in the same way as humans.

See also: What professions can animals learn?

Do cats know how to be jealous?

Well, with dogs everything is clear - they are stilljealous. What about cats? Scientists have long known that cats have certain feelings for their owners and even consider them to be their parents. Only now they hardly know how to be jealous. In the course of scientific work, researchers have found that cats value the home in which they live more than people. So, if a stranger appears in the apartment, the cat will certainly try to defend its territory. This behavior may sound like jealousy, but it really has nothing to do with it.

But cats do not know how to be jealous, they just defend their territory.

If you are interested in science and technology news, subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen. There you will find articles that have not been published on the site!

Scientists quite often study the behavior of dogs,cats and other pets. Many cat owners may have noticed that they run around at night and often break things. This behavior can be explained by the banal harm of furry creatures, but in fact, there is a scientific explanation for the night running of cats. Firstly, cats are predators by nature and can see perfectly in the dark - it's a sin not to play night hunting. Secondly, cats are very social animals and need attention from people, which is why they love to make noise. You can read more about unusual behavior of pets in this article.