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| Could cocker spaniel actually survive without humans? |
>We feed them, walk them, groom them and play with them: Many of us can no longer imagine life without a dog. And the other way around? Could dogs survive at all without the care of us humans? DeineTierwelt answers this question for you.
No matter if they live with a family in the house, live on the street, or are feral - dogs live in a world dominated by humans. Over thousands of years, they have become accustomed to adapting their lives to humans. But even if fossil finds indicate that dogs were domesticated as early as the Ice Age: There was also a life for the animals before us humans.
That's why there is no clear answer to the question of whether dogs could get along without us. Nevertheless, various experts have already dealt with the issue.
One of them is Mark Bekoff. The former professor for ecology and evolution biology writes in "Psychology Today" that the exciting thought play would not end only negatively for the dogs.
After all, it is estimated that about 80 percent of the dogs on our planet do not live with humans. Scientists, who observed for instance street dogs in India, determined that these hardly showed physical signs of stress. Mark Bekoff is convinced that even dogs that have spent their entire lives with humans would do well without us.
Dogs would be freer without humans - but also exposed to more dangers
But would they also miss something? Sure, they would have more freedom than in "captivity". Nevertheless, other challenges would be waiting for them in the wild. For example, they would have to defend themselves - depending on their size, age, sex, and other factors, they could become easy prey. There would also be no more easy food sources - but let's face it, anyone whose dog has ever eaten feces or vomit knows that the pelt-noses are true omnivores.
However, medical care from veterinarians and or dog bins that provide a safe place for dogs to sleep would be impossible without humans. At the same time, there would be no more torture breeding. No artificial selection of traits that people prefer.
Dogs would no longer be praised. But they wouldn't be tugged on the leash either. No yelling at them when they want to play too rough with other dogs or sniff extensively at something.
Your head is spinning? No wonder, this mind game could be continued virtually forever.
The four-legged friends adapt to their new living conditions
Hand on heart: probably most dogs would adapt pretty quickly to a world without humans. Instead of understanding and responding to human behavior, they would train themselves in other skills. "Most dogs wouldn't mind not having people around," is the hard-nosed conclusion of veterinarian Dr. Joanna Pendergrass.
For example, she says, it's also likely that crossbreeding will occur between dogs and other species, such as coyotes and wolves. This could lead to breeds that are even better equipped to survive in the wild.
Fortunately, all this is just a hypothesis - it is unlikely that dogs will live in a world without humans in the near future.
At least, we sincerely hope so.