Left-Right Bias in Indian Free-Ranging Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)

Eldho, Sachin (2021) Left-Right Bias in Indian Free-Ranging Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

Text (MS Dissertation of Sachin Eldho (16MS051)) 16MS051_Thesis_file.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (14MB)

Abstract

Free-ranging dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) have been living in India as a natural population for many centuries and their presence is ubiquitous throughout the country. Previous studies conducted on these dogs reveal that they are an excellent model system to study behaviour, ecology, and cognition in animals. Left-right asymmetries in behaviour are widely reported in the animal kingdom and are often associated with asymmetries in the brain. A well-known example of such a behaviour is human handedness, where 90% of the population use their right hand over the left for most activities. Apart from humans, several animals like cats and dogs are also known to possess a preference for a particular limb. Some studies on pet dogs have reported an interesting association between asymmetric tail wagging and emotional processing in the dog brain. There have also been studies that reported a left gaze bias in pet dogs while viewing human faces. Although various studies have examined the asymmetrical behaviour in pet dogs, very few have been conducted on free-ranging dogs. The aim of this study is to investigate whether free-ranging dogs possess a left or right bias when they are provided with choice tests. Six different choice experiments involving two and three choices, conducted by members of Dog Lab, IISER Kolkata across different years were analyzed for this study to test for any asymmetries in the behaviour. The results of this study highlight that free-ranging dogs do not possess a preferential population bias towards any particular side in choice tests involving two or three choices. But when three choices are involved, they tend to approach the left and right choices more than the middle one. 4

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