Dogs that travel alone on the subway to "hunt" unsuspecting victims

Russian scientists have studied the stray dogs of Moscow and their evolution since the fall of communism.

These animals have demonstrated a capacity for adaptation to the environment and to new circumstances that surpasses in many cases by far that of humans.

One of the skills developed by these canines is their habit of taking the subway in the mornings to get to the center of Moscow and taking it again at night to return to their homes. In the center of the city, food can be easily obtained, but not sleeping comfortably.

They know exactly where and when to get on, observing, even, that they usually choose the cars with the least people (the first and the last usually), something that, according to Eugene Linden, requires reasoning and conscious thought. They are, moreover, capable of not losing their stop, thanks to their excellent sense of time that allows them to calculate their journey, to the recognition of the name of the station or its smell or to a combination of all these factors. In fact, if they have several stops ahead, they get on a free seat and peacefully take a nap...

Once in the center, another notable adaptation is their ability to cross the streets with the green traffic lights. Although dogs do not see in color, they are able to differentiate the images of the traffic light.

Regarding the obtaining of food, the main objective of their subway trip, among their acquired behaviors, what in Russia they have called the "shawarma hunt" stands out. Said hunt consists of a sophisticated ambush in which a dog waits quietly and lying down next to the food kiosks, getting up with a jump and barking at the tourists at the moment in which they have already bought and paid for one of the popular hot shawarmas. The tourists, at the untimely barking, throw their prized food out of fright (with a very high success rate for the dog).

According to A. Poiarkov, of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Moscow, the highlight of this ability is that the animals seem to know who is going to get scared and throw their food and who is not, letting the latter pass by who they will approach with other types of tricks.

In this sense, the most used of the "positive" tricks is their ability to seduce, especially women and children who sit on park benches to eat a sandwich or snack, placing themselves next to them with tender eyes and soft whines, which in most cases, it is the dog that ends up with part of the feast.

They have, therefore, developed, in addition to their new skills of orientation and control of time and space, a sixth sense, or a series of psychological skills that allow them to minimize failures by perceiving the intentionality and sensitivity of people, using one trick or another with them depending on the situation and the person from whom they expect to get something.

According to what is inferred from the same study, this type of adaptation and the new skills of the stray dogs of Moscow can be considered a symptom of epigenetic evolution (Reversible changes in DNA that make some genes express or not depending on external conditions), being born the new canines with these new patterns of behavior "inherited" from their parents and that will be maintained, predictably, over time while the conditions that originated them are maintained. In this case, the social transformation of Russia from the fall of communism, when the new capitalists understood the tourist and commercial value of the center of the city and took the industrial complexes to the outskirts, converting them into a perfect accommodation for the stray dogs, who had to devise new ways to "earn" a living in this new social context.

And all this, without losing an iota of their ability to have fun. As a curiosity, the ethologists mention that even during "their work", they do not stop playing. In many cases, it can be seen how they like to jump off the train at the very moment the doors close, behavior that is only observed when they have eaten and for pure fun, usually on the way back, grouping together more than one can to "enjoy the show".

They also play with the children and adults of the wagons and no dangerous behavior with people has been observed in these animals.

A really curious and very interesting study.