Wolves as pets and working animals
Though wolves are trainable, they lack the same degree of tractability seen in dogs. They are generally not as responsive as dogs to coercive techniques involving fear, aversion to stimuli, and force. Generally, far more work is required to obtain the same degree of reliability seen in most dogs. Even then, once a certain behavior has been repeated several times, wolves may get bored and ignore subsequent commands. Wolves are most responsive toward positive conditioning and rewards, though simple praise is not sufficient as in most dogs. Unlike dogs, wolves tend to respond more to hand signals than voice. Although they are more difficult to control than dogs, they can be easier to teach if the motivation exists.
Wolves are less suitable than dogs for working. Swedish wolf biologist Erik Zimen once tried to form a dog sled team composed entirely of wolves. The experiment failed as the wolves ignored most commands and were far more prone to fighting than sled dogs. North American wolves and wolf hybrids were used as experimental attack dogs by the South African Defence Force in Apartheid South Africa in an attempt to breed animals capable of tracking guerrillas. Because the wolves would not follow even basic commands, the experiment was abandoned. However, their sense of smell can rival that of established scent hounds. According to reports published in 2006, ongoing research at the Perm Institute of Internal Troops in Russia demonstrated that wolf/dog cross-breeds took 15–20 seconds to track down a target in training sessions, whereas ordinary police dogs took 3–4 minutes. Their success has led to plans to use them as police dogs for the Russian police.
Divergent evolution in animals
Another good example of divergent evolution is the domesticated dog and the wolf. Dogs and wolves both diverged from a common ancestor called the Grey Wolf. Dogs and wolves diverged in many places all over the world, each their own separate occasion, rather than just one single isolated event. Then through artificial selection, dogs diverged from the Grey Wolves into the domesticated dog that is known today. To further support divergent evolution of dogs and wolves, genomic research was conducted to compare mitochondrial DNA to indicate the presence of shared ancestry. Taking 162 wolves from various parts of the world as well as 140 dogs of 60 different breeds, it is found that dogs and wolves have shared ancestry by how similar their DNA sequences are. On a macro scale, to support shared ancestry, comparison of the physical characteristics of each animal can be conducted. Dogs and wolves have similar body shape, skull size, and limb formation, further supporting identical genetic makeup and thus shared ancestry. An example of this would be how physically and behaviorally similar malamutes and huskies are to wolves. Huskies and malamutes have very similar body size and skull shape. Huskies and wolves share similar coat patterns as well as tolerance to cold. In the hypothetical situations, mutations and breeding events were simulated to show the progression of the wolf behavior over ten generations. The results concluded that even though the last generation of the wolves were more docile and less aggressive, the temperament of the wolves fluctuated greatly from one generation to the next. Although it can be concluded that evolution may not be happening based on the amount of generations tested, the continuation of generations will become fixated and later support the hypothesis that wolves became more docile to a point where human interaction was capable of existing. By concluding that dogs and wolves are extremely similar physically, behaviorally, and genetically, it is evident that millions of years ago, dogs diverged from the common ancestor called the Grey Wolf and that also dogs and wolves are subject to divergent evolution.