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4d ago

Study Finds Dogs, Like Toddlers, Freely Help Caregivers, While Cats Rarely Do

Researchers trace the gap to dogs’ cooperative evolution with humans versus cats’ more solitary ancestry.

Dogs are more likely to try helping out their owner without expecting any reward for the efforts.
A stock image of a brown and white dog standing inside a home and looking up at the camera.
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Overview

  • In a natural caregiver-search task, more than 75% of untrained pet dogs and 16–24-month-old toddlers indicated or retrieved a hidden object.
  • Caregivers did not request assistance or offer rewards, supporting a measure of spontaneous prosocial motivation.
  • Cats attended to the scene yet seldom helped, except in control trials when the hidden item was a favored toy or treat.
  • The work, led by Eötvös Loránd University and the HUN-REN–ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, appears in the peer-reviewed journal Animal Behaviour.
  • Authors stress the findings reflect species-typical motivation and do not imply that cats lack care for their owners.