Researchers Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast will talk about the lessons we’ve learned from amazing new discoveries of extinct human species. Plus: learn about how dogs can be moody teenagers, too.
Researchers Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast will talk about the lessons we’ve learned from amazing new discoveries of extinct human species. Plus: learn about how dogs can be moody teenagers, too.
Dogs can be annoying teenagers, too by Steffie Drucker
Additional resources from Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast:
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/extinct-human-species-w-elizabeth-sawchuk-and-mary-prendergast-and-moody-teenage-dogs
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how dogs can be moody teenagers, too. Then, researchers Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast will talk about the lessons we’ve learned from amazing new discoveries of extinct human species — along with some new questions they’ve raised about why our species is the only kind of human around today.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Here’s a word of warning for dog people: a new study has found that, just like human children, your dog will go through a period of frustrating defiance with the onset of puberty. That’s right: puppies become moody teenagers, too.
To come to this conclusion, British researchers studied the behavior of more than 400 guide dogs in training, who’d all been trained in the same way. The breeds included Labs, Golden Retrievers, and crossbreeds of the two.
The team first tested the dogs’ obedience at five and eight months old. For each test, the dog’s caretaker and a stranger would tell the pooch to sit. Sure enough, the puppies were more likely to dawdle or disobey at eight months than at five months. Well, actually, they only disobeyed their caretaker — their responsiveness to the stranger actually improved. Teenagers, am I right?
The same was true when they asked the humans to rate how easy the dogs were to train: caregivers’ scores for their dogs dropped in the lead-up to adolescence but strangers reported an improvement.
Researchers also found that dogs who displayed an insecure attachment style by clinging to their caretakers were also more disobedient to their quote-unquote “parents” during their teenage phase.
Experienced dog owners may not be surprised, but this is the first scientific evidence we have of these teen-wolf behavioral changes. Fortunately, we ended up with this equally important result: at the end of puberty around 12 months of age, the dogs stopped being snotty teenagers. They were good dogs once again.
And that’s important! Puberty can be a vulnerable time for people and pups alike. Humans are more likely to develop mental health problems or engage in risky behaviors during their teen years. Discovering dogs’ similarities means we can use them to study puberty and learn more about ourselves.
But it helps the dogs, too. A dog’s teenage phase is often when they land in a shelter, since it’s when their owners realize they’re not a cute puppy anymore and their behavior may seem like too much to deal with. Parents know that puberty is “just a phase” that teens go through. Knowing it’s the same for dogs will help keep them in their homes. So if you live with a teenager — human or canine — keep in mind, “This too shall pass.”
We're the only human species around today — but that wasn't always the case. Over the last 20 years, the pace of archaeological discovery has gotten faster than ever, and scientists are finding more and more evidence of other human species — some of whom even lived, mated, and procreated with our ancient ancestors. These discoveries are changing a lot what we know about human history, so we got in touch with a couple researchers to learn more. Elizabeth Sawchuk is a postdoctoral researcher and research assistant professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University in New York. And Mary Prendergast is a professor of Anthropology and Chair of Humanities at St Louis University’s Madrid Campus. Here’s Elizabeth on the explosion of research into human origins.
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We’ll put links to learn more from Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast in today’s show notes. And stay subscribed to Curiosity Daily to hear from them one more time next Tuesday, when they’ll wrap up our interview series by helping you understand how these discoveries have changed what we know about ourselves.
ASHLEY: Let’s recap!
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CODY: Today’s first story was written by Steffie Drucker, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!