Dogs Decoded

Nova, Season 6, Episode 7 - Amazon

Before you watch the video, tell me a little about your experience with dogs:

1)  Do you have a dog (or have you ever had a dog)?    _______

2)  What do you like about dogs? ________________________________

3)  What do you not like about dogs? ______________________________

4)  Pick a name for the dog pictured →   ____________________________

___ 1.  How is the way a dog looks at a face similar to the way humans look at faces?

a)  dogs  look at the right side of the face
b)  dogs put more focus on the eyes
c)  dogs start at  the top of the head and then look down

___ 2.  How did researchers test whether humans could understand barks?

a) they observed what a dog was doing when it barked
b) had dogs bark at each other in different situations
c) had humans listen to recordings of barks
Were humans able to tell what the barks meant? ________

___ 3.  Oxytocin is a hormone associated with:    a) anger               b) hunger           c) bonding

       When owners pet their dogs, what happens to the level of this hormone in blood?   ______________

___ 4.  Dogs are most closely related to what  type of wild canine? a) wolves       b) jackals       c)  coyotes

___ 5.  Compare dog and chimpanzee behavior. What can dogs do much better than a chimpanzee?

a) communicate                b) understand human gestures        c) solve mathematical problems           

___ 6.   What is Betsy's unique skill?  a) counting          b) identifying objects           c)  dancing

___ 7.  When wolf cubs are raised in a human home, what happens?

a) wolves act wild           b) wolves act like dogs                  c) wolves are fearful

___8.  Aggressive foxes  that were raised by tame mothers were still aggressive.  This supports which conclusion?    

a)  fox mothers are not good role models             b) tameness is genetically inherited

___9.  When foxes were domesticated, what changed about their appearance?

 a)  they became larger          b) their hair became curly                    c)  they had shorter tails 

___10.  What is the explanation for why humans tend to think dogs are cute? 

a) they entertain us     b) they are fluffy                     c) features are similar to babies

**  Why did the scientist suggest that dogs were parasites? _______________________________