He and his colleagues
compared dog and wolf DNA to learn which genes were important for domestication.
«Our study is unique as it does not only
compare dogs and wolves living under identical conditions, with a same history and training regime,» Bräuer adds, «We also compared dogs living in packs to pets living with their human families.»
Not exact matches
He
compared them to
wolves, just like He
compared other to swine,
dogs, goats
and foxes.
To be able to
compare the behaviour of
dogs and wolves and to investigate the effects of domestication, it is important that the animals live in the same conditions,» Virányi explains.
Germonpré's assertion that the Goyet
dog is in fact a
dog comes from
comparing its skull
and jaws with those of
wolves and modern
dogs.
Other labs could then
compare DNA sequences from purebred
dogs; wild canids such as
wolves, coyotes,
and dingoes;
and feral
dogs.
«This study is a fabulous first go at experimentally
comparing the ability of
wolves and dogs to cooperate with their groupmates,» says Brian Hare, a
dog cognition expert at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who was not involved with the work.
A consortium led by Greger Larson of the University of Oxford is now doing just that,
comparing genetic
and morphological data from hundreds of ancient
dogs and wolves.
Domestic
dogs, who are descended from cooperatively breeding
wolves,
and elephants also perform better on socio - cognitive tasks, such as imitation,
compared to other animals of similar brain size.
Adam Freedman of Harvard University
and an international group of collaborators
compared DNA from three breeds of
dogs (a boxer, a Basenji
and an Australian dingo) to that of three gray
wolves (Canis lupus) from Croatia, China
and Israel — three locations proposed as centers of
dog domestication.
In analyzing
and carefully
comparing the genetic information from
dogs representing 85 breeds, the researchers were surprised to discover previously unappreciated relationships between existing breeds
and new details that suggest completely unexpected breeds to be among the most ancient descendents of
dogs»
wolf - like ancestors.
In the study now published in the scientific journal Nature the researchers have
compared the genomes in a large number of
dogs and wolves,
and mapped areas of the genome that show clear differentiation between the two groups.
The esteemed journal, Nature, published a study
comparing a
wolf's
and a
dog's ability to digest starch.
It is also only through recent studies
comparing the behaviour of
dogs and hand reared
wolves that we have seen how only
dogs have evolved to follow a human point when looking for something or to seek human help when they can't open a box with food in it.
To test their hypothesis, the researchers measured the amount of maltase - glucoamylase in the pancreas
and in the blood of
dogs compared to
wolves.
Next, they
compared the expression of that gene in
dogs versus
wolves and found on average a 28 fold increase in
dogs.
While Shenkel's
and Mech's studies vary greatly, it is ultimately a mistake to totally
compare dogs with
wolves.
Too much emphasis has been placed on
comparing the similarities of domestic
dogs and wolves and not enough on recognizing the significant differences between these 2 species.
And by
comparing the
dog to the
wolf, scientists hope to gain insight into the genetics of aggression, even if they never completely understand what drives predatory behavior.
Now, scientists are tracking down new clues between genetics
and behavior by
comparing the genomes of
dog and wolf, zeroing in on the relatively small sections of DNA that explain why
dog and wolf pups may seem so similar, only to grow up to be so different.
Motivational factors underlying problem solving:
Comparing wolf and dog puppies» explorative
and neophobic behaviors at 5, 6,
and 8 weeks of age
As more researchers
compare wolf and dog DNA, Ostrander expects more genetic differences between
dogs and wolves to emerge.
Nevertheless, the study adds to evidence that
dogs should not eat the same food as
wolves, says Wayne, who points out that
dog food is rich in carbohydrates
and low in protein
compared with plain meat.