Pies: According to a study shared by Cornell University,

Evidence: 42 • authority: 92

Genomic Rewilding of Domestic Animals: The Role of Hybridization and Selection in Wolfdog Breeds.. Background/Objectives : The domestication of the grey wolf ( Canis lupus ) and subsequent creation of modern dog breeds have significantly shaped the genetic landscape of domestic canines. This study investigates the genomic effects of hybridization and breeding management practices in two hybrid wolfdog breeds: the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog (CSW) and the Saarloos Wolfdog (SAW). Methods : We analyzed the genomes of 46 CSWs and 20 SAWs, comparing them to 12 German Shepherds (GSHs) and 20 wolves (WLFs), which served as their ancestral populations approximately 70-90 years ago. Results : Our findin…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 72

The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is the domesticated form of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is one of the most common and widespread domesticated animals in the world. Chickens are primarily kept for their meat and eggs, though they are also kept as pets. As of 2023, the global chicken population exceeded 26.5 billion, with more than 50 billion birds produced annually for consumption. Specialized breeds such as broilers and laying hens have been developed for meat and egg production, respectively. A hen bred for laying can produce over 300 eggs per year. Chickens are social animals with comp…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 92

Phenome-wide study connects behavioral genetics of odor detection dogs with temperament traits.. We conducted a Phenome-Wide Association Study (PheWAS) to investigate whether alleles previously shown to be associated with problem behaviors in Labrador Retrievers from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) odor detection program also show behavioral associations in other populations. The original TSA cohort (2002–2013) consisted of dogs from a former breeding program that drew from U.S. commercial sources and the Australian Customs Service. While those data included TSA testing results from the foster period, detailed behavior profiles and reasons for elimination from the pr…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 92

Copy-cat evolution: Divergence and convergence within and between cat and dog breeds.. Many domesticated species exhibit remarkable phenotypic diversity. In nature, selection produces not only divergence but also convergence when organisms experience similar selective pressures. Whether artificial selection during domestication also produces convergence has received little attention. Three-dimensional shape analysis of domestic cat and dog skulls demonstrated convergence at multiple levels. Most broadly, cats and dogs have both diversified greatly: equaling or exceeding the morphological disparity among all modern-day species of their respective families. Moreover, as a result of artificial…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Canis lupus dingo is a taxonomic rank that includes both the dingo that is native to Australia and the New Guinea singing dog that is native to the New Guinea Highlands. It also includes some extinct dogs that were once found in coastal Papua New Guinea and the island of Java in the Indonesian Archipelago. It is included in the taxonomic treatment presented in the third edition of Mammal Species of the World (2005). In this treatment, it is a subspecies of Canis lupus (the wolf), with the domestic dog treated as a different wolf subspecies. However, other treatments consider the dog as a full species, with the dingo and its relatives either as a subspecies of the dog (as Canis familiaris di…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The domesticated silver fox (Vulpes vulpes forma amicus) is a form of the silver fox, a melanistic form of the wild red fox, that has been to some extent domesticated under laboratory conditions. Domesticated silver foxes are the result of an experiment designed to demonstrate the power of selective breeding to transform species, as described by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species. The experiment at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Russia, explored whether selection for behaviour rather than morphology may have been the process that had produced dogs from wolves, by recording the changes in foxes when in each generation only the most tame foxes were allowed to b…

Evidence: — • authority: 80

When dogs return to nature – just how domesticated are our pooches really?

Evidence: — • authority: 88

How Dogs Domesticated. The dog, Canis familiaris, has classical domestication attributes, possibly derived from selection for tameness, except one: the capacity to share a long gaze (30+ seconds) with a human. All dog breeds have this capacity, even puppies prior to human socialization. No other domesticate can do so. Only Great Apes, among over 5000 mammals, can. Shared gazing replaces cortisol-based fight/flight hormone response with an oxytocin governed phobia/philia response. It involves mutations in neural hormone receptors, iris visibility, periorbital muscle control, and mate selection. Shared gazing contradicts domestication induced adolescent behavior fixation, as it requires appar…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

This page gives a list of domesticated animals, also including a list of animals which are or may be currently undergoing the process of domestication and animals that have an extensive relationship with humans beyond simple predation. This includes species which are semi-domesticated, undomesticated but captive-bred on a commercial scale, or commonly wild-caught, at least occasionally captive-bred, and tameable. In order to be considered fully domesticated, most species have undergone significant genetic, behavioural and morphological changes from their wild ancestors, while others have changed very little from their wild ancestors despite hundreds or thousands of years of potential select…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The domestication of the cat can be traced back to Near Eastern and Egyptian populations of the African wildcat, Felis lybica, from which emerged the domestic cat (F. catus). Both belong to the Felis lineage of the family Felidae, which is thought to have first diversified around 13 to 12 million years ago. Several investigations have shown that all domestic varieties of cats come from a single lineage of F. lybica, although early interactions between wildcats and Neolithic human settlements occurred across a broad geographic range. Originating in the Near East, the first domestic cats spread from the ancient Mediterranean world via maritime trade as well as the Silk Road, and later worldwi…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant of wolves. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. Dogs and the modern gray wolf share a common ancestor. Dogs were the first species to be domesticated over 14,000 years ago, before the development of agriculture, though genetic studies suggest the domestication process may have begun over 25,000 years ago. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids. Dogs have been bred for specific behaviors, sensory abilities, and physical traits. Dog breeds va…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The domestication of the dog was the process which resulted in the emergence of the domestic dog as a species (Canis familiaris). This included the dog's genetic divergence from the wolf, its domestication, and the emergence of the first dogs. Genetic studies suggest that all ancient and modern dogs share a common ancestry, descending from an ancient, now-extinct wolf population – or closely related wolf populations – which was distinct from the modern wolf lineage. The dog's similarity to the grey wolf is the result of substantial dog-into-wolf gene flow, with the modern grey wolf being the dog's nearest living relative. An extinct Late Pleistocene wolf may have been the ancestor of the do…