WASHINGTON, United States - If you're looking for a word to describe your adorable pet pup, "selfish" might not top the list.
But a new study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE suggests Fido's reputation for being caring is all a ruse -- at least if you're a fellow dog.
A series of touchscreen experiments carried out by the Wolf Science Center in Vienna, Austria found that wolves make for more selfless pack mates than dogs who were also raised in groups.
The study's authors say the findings suggest domestic dogs inherited their cooperative tendencies from their fierce wolf ancestors, rather than through their contact with human beings, a competing hypothesis.
Researchers trained the animals to use their snouts to press a "giving" symbol on a screen that delivered food to an adjacent enclosure, where a fellow animal may or may not be present.
Over multiple trials, wolves opted to deliver food to members of their own pack, knowing they would not get anything in return -- but lost interest if they were shown an unfamiliar wolf.
Dogs, on the other hand, showed no particular inclination to feed other dogs when no personal payoff was involved, regardless of whether they knew them or not.
"This study shows that domestication did not necessarily make dogs more prosocial," said lead author Rachel Dale.
"Rather, it seems that tolerance and generosity towards group members help to produce high levels of cooperation, as seen in wolves."
But don't write off your pooch just yet. The authors cautioned against applying the results of an experiment carried out on pack dogs to pet dogs, who have been found to have prosocial tendencies in past studies.
The researchers believe those behaviors could be the result of training or encouragement, and say more research is needed to determine what accounts for the differences.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WOLVERHAMPTON -- Ashley Young's needless dismissal and Chris Smalling's farcical own goal sent Manchester United crashing to a damaging 2-1 defeat against Wolves on Tuesday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side blew a chance to move into third place in the Premier League as they squandered the lead in a disappointing display at Molineux.
United remain fifth, but their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League via a top-four finish will be further dented if Tottenham and Chelsea win on Wednesday.
It was a frustrating night for Solskjaer, who saw United suffer a third defeat in their last four games -- underlining how much work the Norwegian still has in front of him following his appointment as permanent manager last week.
Scott McTominay's first goal for United was negated by Diogo Jota before the interval, but the game's turning point proved to be a second yellow card collected by Young with just 57 minutes gone.
United finally caved to Wolves' pressure 20 minutes later, when Raul Jimenez rose above Phil Jones and headed a Joao Moutinho cross goalwards.
The awkward attempt saw Smalling and goalkeeper David de Gea become entangled, with the former making the final touch as the ball rolled over the line.
McTominay's memorable first ever goal in professional football had come after just 13 minutes and a solid, controlled start by Solskjaer's team.
A patient left-wing build-up ended with Jesse Lingard playing the ball centrally to Fred, with the Brazilian quickly moving it sideways to Scotland international McTominay.
The 22-year-old unleashed a brilliant, right-foot finish from 25 yards that beat the diving Rui Patricio and nestled in the far left-hand corner.
It might have been an even healthier position a few moments later, but Romelu Lukaku impeded McTominay as his team-mate lined up another shot from similar range.
But with Wolves' defence looking curiously disorganised, there was still opportunity for Lukaku to chip in a dangerous centre for Lingard, whose close-range header was pawed away to safety by Patricio.
- United shaken -
The goal lead was just reward for a strong start by United, with Lingard surging forward directly from kick-off and unleashing the game's first shot with just five seconds gone.
There was also a promising attack which saw Fred spray the ball wide to Diogo Dalot whose hanging cross found Lukaku, only for the Belgian to guide his header directly at the keeper from six yards.
However, United succumbed to the first period of pressure placed upon them by the home side, who had already beaten them in the FA Cup just weeks ago.
First, an unfortunate rebound off Dalot allowed Willy Boly to play through Jimenez who hurried a 24th-minute shot.
Just seconds later, United were not so lucky after a poor clearance from De Gea, and even worse control by Fred, saw him lose the ball to Moutinho with Jimenez pouncing on it and playing in Jota.
The Portuguese forward did not need a second invitation to advance and calmly beat De Gea for the equaliser.
United looked shaken and an error by Luke Shaw, in mis-directing a header, soon played in Matt Doherty, who pulled the ball back for Leo Dendoncker to blaze over from the corner of the six-yard area.
United threatened after the restart, with a Lukaku cross flicked on by Paul Pogba for McTominay, who stooped low and saw his diving header well saved by the outstretched hand of Patricio.
But United's task was hardly made easier when Young collected two yellow cards in the space of five minutes for fouls on Jota, the second after a particularly unpleasant high challenge.
As Wolves fans, warming up for Sunday's FA Cup semi-final with Watford, celebrated their impending victory, substitute Ivan Cavaleiro almost made it three when he struck the crossbar in stoppage-time.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Khris Middleton and Ersan Ilyasova scored 16 points apiece as the visiting Milwaukee Bucks improved to 5-0 by pounding the Minnesota Timberwolves 125-95 on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for Milwaukee. Malcolm Brogdon scored 13 points, Brook Lopez added 11 and John Henson collected 12 rebounds for the Bucks, who led by 25 points at halftime en route to an easy victory.
Milwaukee is two wins shy of matching the franchise-best 7-0 start engineered by the 1971-72 team led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Bucks were 19 of 46 from 3-point range, with 10 players making at least one. Milwaukee shot 53.3 percent overall.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 16 points and Derrick Rose added 14 for the Timberwolves, who lost their second straight game.
Jimmy Butler had just four points on 2-of-11 shooting for Minnesota, which was booed off the court at halftime after its poor play over the first 24 minutes.
The Timberwolves played without injured small forward Andrew Wiggins (quadriceps) for the second straight game.
Minnesota shot 32.1 percent from the field, including 10 of 43 from long range.
Milwaukee's lead topped out at 34 points when Middleton drained a 3-pointer to make it 88-54 with 4:47 left in the third quarter.
The lead was 30 points entering the final quarter, and the Bucks rested their key players due to the comfortable margin.
Tyus Jones added 12 points for Minnesota. Taj Gibson and Anthony Tolliver scored 11 apiece.
The Bucks began pulling away when Ilyasova connected on two 3-pointers and Middleton and Henson each made one during a 14-2 first-quarter surge that turned a one-point lead into a 27-14 margin.
Rose hit a 3-pointer to pull Minnesota within 35-27 with 8:27 left in the first half. Milwaukee responded by scoring 15 of the next 19 points to open up a 19-point lead on Middleton's basket with 4:11 remaining.
The Bucks later scored the final seven points of the half for a 63-38 lead at the break.
Minnesota's starting five of Towns, Butler, Gibson, Jeff Teague and Josh Okogie scored 14 points on 7-of-34 shooting in the first half.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
