ANS 105 - History of the Domestic Dog

Scientific name for grey wolf

canis lupus

Canis Lupis

• 31 different subspecies

• previously 39 (8 are now extinct)

Subspecies

• arise from natural selection

• differ morphologically from original

• often differ geographically

Breed

• based on artificial selection by humans

• all from a common species

• usually not isolated geographically

Domestic Dog

• 39 pairs of chromosomes

• DD & grey wolf differ by 0.2 mtCDNA, while grey wolf & coyote differ by 4%

Sociality and Dynamics

• Social nature of the wolf is very similar to DD

• Social packs in which they live and hunt

• Coyotes live and hunt in packs

• Jackals primarily hunt alone

Communication

• the body posture is very similar between dogs and wolves

• facial expressions are similar

• vocalizations are very similar

What is domestication?

• the breeding and containment of a species under human control

• 10 gen rule (10 gen to be domesticated)

• heritable

What is taming?

• one generation only

• not heritable

Neoteny (persistent infantile characteristics)

• that an animal is permanently immature in characteristics of importance

Physical Features that are examples of neoteny within average specimens

• decreased overall size

• altered (decreased) jaw size & strength

• decreased size & number of teeth

• prominent foreheads

• shorter limbs

• diminished secondary sexual characteristics in males

Behavioral examples of neoteny

• dog being highly curious like wolf pups

• common easily subordinate nature of dogs to humans (much like a wolf pup to its pack members)

When did man meet the dog?

• man and dogs lived together in a symbiotic relationship for around 100,000 years

• first fossil evidence of an actual “pet” dog comes from middle east around 12,000 years ago

• scientists believe people were starting to collect pets before this around 15,000 years ago

Idaho USA

• some pet dogs remains were dated back 11,000 years fro, Idaho, USA. Thus - likely happening in distinct populations around the world at the same time with different subspecies

Research varies

• research showing that the dog as first as domesticated in Europe 19,000 - 40,000 years ago

• although some Asian reports also exist & varies from 1-2 or several domestication centers and times

Later Pleistocene (Humans)…

• they started collecting wild animals as trophies or as gifts

• they quickly realized grey wolves were the easiest to train and that once tamed, they were good to have around

• wolves were quickly trained to guard children, homes, and food.

Canis Lupus Familiaris

• the dog’s scientific name

fertility & sexual maturity changes

• wolf have 1 estrus cycle per year, dogs have 2

• wolf males are fertile seasonally, dog males are fertile all year

• the dog has social maturity later in life than sexual maturity; equal in the wolf

• wolf pups develop physically sooner than dog pups

Why would these changes occur?

• elimination of natural pressures

• bred to be easily kept as pets

• dog puppies have a longer socialization period than wolf pups

Agonistic Behavior

• Dominance is usually settled w/o a lot of trouble with wolves. harder w/ dogs sometimes

• wolves do not want to fight, they need their energy simply to survive. Dogs don’t.

• Most dogs are less dominant by nature compared to wolves and problems easier to handle

• on average, dogs do not have the full array of predatory

Breeds of dogs

Spread & increased numbers of human population lead to a change in the demands for companion animals. Thus, people needed further selection and refinement of dog traits to meet their unique needs

Selective Breeding

• discriminative selection based on presence of desired structural or behavioral characteristics

• used to weed out undesirable traits or to breed in desired traits

• AKA ARTIFICIAL SELECTION: selective pressures are artificially generated by humans; not naturally-occuring or a result of environmentally-generated stimuli

Selective breeding timeline

• Actually began at least 5,000 years ago but the huge extremes we see today did not start until the last 200 years