Hal Herzog Ph. D.

One afternoon in May 2016, canine behaviorist Diana Rayment of Melbourne, Australia was taking Bolt, her Rottweiler, for a walk. Suddenly, Bolt spotted a group of kangaroos and took off after them full tilt. Unfortunately, his leash was tangled around Diana’s legs. As she fell, Diana’s body was twisted around by the leash.

I first became interested in names when I read an article in which researchers Alex Bentley and Matt Hahn showed how changes in popular baby names offer an excellent model for studying cultural evolution. Alex, Matt and I subsequently found that, just like baby names, whether a dog breed becomes popular is mostly a matter of dumb luck.

Dogs, cats, hamsters, they really are your best friends in more ways than you think. While the study of animal behavior opens a window into the minds of pets, researching animals can also shine a light on human behavior; the question of nature versus nurture is just one area of inquiry that has shared significance.