If you ’ve ever remember that your precious puppy was a true genius , now you ’ll have the chance to prove it . Researchers in the UK and Germany havelauncheda new citizen science project this calendar week , hoping to find dogs that are inordinately good at human communicating and target recognition .
In 2004 , scientistspublisheda report detail their experiments with a seemingly remarkable boundary line collie named Rico . Theyclaimedthat the German canine could sympathize more than 200 human words , all tied to the many toys he had . After call out the toy ’s name , Rico seemed capable of recognizing what it meant , then retrieving said miniature back from another room . Rico also appeared to be great at learning Modern words . In another experiment , researcher added a new toy to his collection , while also introducing a word he had never heard before ; Rico then appear to quickly consociate this new physical object with the new word . At the time , his spirit level of vocabulary was liken to apes , dolphinfish , and parrots that had been train to hold on human oral communication .
Researchinto the communicative and cognitive skills of nonhuman animals has never been easy , owe to the fact that we just ca n’t know what these animals are really thinking . So it ’s always possible that Rico ’s claimed ability may not have been a sign of true human - to - dog communicating . The discipline that made Rico famous did take pains to avoid an infamous phenomenon well known in beast cognition research , though , known as the Clever Hans core . Hans was a supposed math - solving buck at the act of the twentieth one C , but it was latershownthat he was simply respond to the subtle cue of his trainer in picking out the right-hand response .
A dog walking in the courtyard of an animal shelter n Landerneau, western France, on 13 May 2025.Photo: Fred Tanneau/AFP (Getty Images)
Rico sadly passed away in 2008 , but he inspired further inquiry that tried to test the boundaries of canine tooth knowledge . In the year since , othersimilarly talenteddogs have been document , including a fellow margin collie named Chaser that’ssaidto recognize 1,000 words . And now the same researchers that meditate Rico back then have named this task in his honor , simply titled “ Finding Rico . ”
“ Rico was clear one of the most exceptionally talented dogs , but we know there are others out there who are as talented . We hope this citizen scientific discipline project will inspire multitude to work with us to prove their dog ’ intelligence agency and to establish how common such superb skill really is , ” said Juliane Kaminski , now managing director of the Dog Cognition Center at the University of Portsmouth in England , in astatement . The project is being co - turn tail by researchers from the Dog Studies Lab at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany .
The project is soliciting submissions from all over the world , with their enlisting video being released in seven language , including French , Japanese , German , Spanish , andEnglish . Though Rico may have understand 200 words , the measure for this labor is much less strenuous . So long as your hound seems capable of identify at least 20 dissimilar objects by name , the investigator want to hear from you . Those concerned can adjoin the scientist at their email address,[email protect ] .
And if your pooch is n’t a wordsmith , but you ’re still interested in avail scientists better translate the dog brain , you could insteadsign upfor the Canine Metacognition labor , which is also currently look for volunteers .
animal cognitionAnimalsDogsEthology
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and culture news in your inbox day by day .
word from the time to come , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
