My master thesis consists in a location choice paradigm experiment used to determine whether wolves (Canis lupus) and/or dogs (Canis familiaris) are prosocial. I am using the same definition of prosociality as Hernandez-Lallement et al. (2015), i.e. “the preference for outcomes that produce benefits for other individuals”. The wolves and dogs live in packs at the Wolf Science Center in Austria. Working in dyads, one of the two animals has to choose between being selfish, and take a reward for itself only, or being pro-social and choose to give a reward to its partner too. This type of choice (selfish vs pro-social) has been used for the first time in 1969 by Colman et al. and has since been used numerous times. My thesis is supervised by both Klaus Zuberbühler (University of Neuchâtel) and Friederike Range (University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna and one of the founders of the Wolf Science Center).

©Caroline Haas