Study: Wolves can communicate with just their eyes
Ever try to talk to your friends without actually speaking? It can be a bit challenging ... which is what makes this discovery all the more impressive. A new study suggests wolves can communicate using only their eyes.
Researchers looked at pictures of almost every species and found they have a special eye-based communication system. They narrowed it down to 3 basic patterns:
Type A- the pupil position and eye position are clear.
Type B- Only the eye position is clear
Type C- the eyes are unclear.
Certain wolves, dogs and even humans identify with type-A. The researchers wrote about their findings, "A-type faces tended to be observed in species living in family groups all year-round..."
Type B is common among other wolves, foxes and dingos that tend to travel solo or in pairs, and type C was found in primitive species like African wild dogs, that live in packs, but mostly hunt alone.
This isn't an entirely new theory - scientists believe one of the reasons humans have white surrounding our irises is so we can tell what others are looking at.