Most zoologists agree that tail wagging in dogs is a means for animals to express joy and other positive emotions. In a new study, European scientists have come up with an unusual explanation for this common habit in dogs.

Wolves and foxes are the closest relatives of domestic dogs (Canis acquaintances), but they almost never wag their tails (except for short periods of contact with close relatives and humans). Therefore, the tendency for four-legged human friends to frequently behave in this way may have emerged during the domestication process. So how and why did this behavior develop? In search of answers, a team of researchers from the Netherlands and Austria examined existing hypotheses on this topic. The magazine published the review results Biology Letters.

Analysis of scientific literature did not lead to definitive conclusions. For example, the authors of one of the articles found that dogs wag their tails more often than wolves who are already three weeks old, even if the puppies of both species were raised in the same conditions. In another study, it was said that dogs were the ones that wagged their tails the most.

But there is evidence that the behavior probably arose during the domestication process. In another study, researchers observed black-brown foxes (vulpes vulpes), bred in captivity over several generations and purposely selected for docileness and friendliness in character. Over time, domesticated foxes developed the habit of wagging their tails.

Dutch scientists believe that everything may have happened according to a similar scenario in dogs.

“We don’t have a time machine to go back to the beginning of the relationship between humans and dogs, but we can look at the behavior of modern dogs in parallel with the behavior of humans to try to understand how the domestication process occurred,” said Taylor, one of the study’s authors. hersh Taylor Hersh).

According to Hersh and colleagues, people consciously or unconsciously choose dogs that wag their tails more often. The reason lies in the metronome-like rhythm of these oscillations and the fact that everything rhythmic attracts people. In studies of dogs, it has been repeatedly expressed how other characteristics of these animals may have emerged due to artificial selection during domestication. For example, zoologists recently explained why most dogs have dark eyes.

However, the authors added that additional studies, especially experimental, are needed to confirm the hypothesis about the origin of tail wagging and to better understand the meaning of this behavior in dogs.

There are other assumptions about this in the scientific community. Researcher Holly Ruth-Gutteridge wrote in a comment to The Guardian (Holly Root-Getteridgefrom the University of Lincoln (Great Britain) suggested that dogs adapted to wag their tails when communicating with people because people were annoyed by barking.

Let us add that not only dogs, but also such a wild animal as a wild boar often wags its tail. But in his case this is a sign not of a very good-natured mood and fun, but of joyful excitement. Due to their behavioral characteristics, male wild boars can sense (and shake their tails vigorously) before attacking someone perceived as a formidable opponent. Therefore, anyone who sees such behavior in the wild needs to be vigilant.