ARCH2108 Animals, Plants and People

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ARCH2108Animals, Plants and People
The Dog
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The family Canidae
Dhole Cuon alpinus
Cape hunting dog Lycaon pictus
Maned wolf Chrysocyon jubatus
Arctic fox Alopex lagopus
Fennec fox Vulpes zerda
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The genus Canisabout 7 species including
Black-backed jackal Canis mesomelas
Coyote Canis latrans
Golden jackal Canis aureus
Gray wolf Canis lupus
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Species of Canis often hybridize in the wild
Anaesthetized!
Coyote
Red wolves
The critically endangered Red Wolf (Canis rufus)
may be a stabilized hybrid between Gray Wolf and
Coyote
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Could the dog be of hybrid origin?

• Konrad Lorenz proposed that some breeds are
  predominately derived from the Gray Wolf, others
  from the Golden Jackal.
• Wolf breeds would be those exhibiting
  one-person fidelity, jackal breeds more
  promiscuous in their affections.
• He later changed his opinion under the weight of
  archaeozoological evidence.

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Distribution of Gray Wolf,Canis lupus
Extinct in most of Western Europe since about
17th century Extinct in southern USA and Mexico
since early 19th century
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Subspecies of Gray Wolves whence the dog?
Arabian wolf Canis lupus arabs
European wolf Canis lupus lupus
Indian wolf Canis lupus pallipes
Arctic wolf Canis lupus albus
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Juliet Clutton-Brocks modeldog breeds
primarily from Indian wolf, but with input from
local subspecies
North American wolf
Chinese wolf
Indian wolf
European wolf
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Vilà et al. (1997) two (of four) dog mtDNA
lineages are as deep as those among wolves

• WOLVES Saudi Arabia, Spain, China
• WOLVES Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Mexico?
• WOLVES Saudi Arabia, India, Russia
• WOLVES Saudi Arabia, Israel, Afghanistan,
  S.E.Europe, Poland, Spain
• WOLVES Scandinavia
• WOLVES N.America
• WOLVES Romania, Greece, Russia
• DOGS Ridgeback, Afghan, Otterhound, Bulldog,
  Basset
• WOLVES Western Southern Europe
• DOGS some Elkhounds, Jämthunds
• DOGS some Terriers, German Shepherds, Huskies
• DOGS most dogs, including dingo, singing dog,
  Basenji, greyhound, Samoyed, spitz

Time depth 100-150,000 years
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Savolainen et al. (2002)
The three major dog clades (using Vilà et al.s
data) each have much more diverse representation
in East Asia than in Europe/S.W.Asia/Africa. The
time depth of Clade A is 414 ka the three
best-defined subclusters are 114, 163 and 268
ka. Clade B has time depth 133, Clade C is
173.
A
from East
B
from West
C
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Outgroup Coyotes
Purple Latin American precontact dogs Green
Alaskan precontact dogs Black modern dogs
Black Asian wolves Blue American wolves
Leonard et al. (2002) New World dogs have Old
World origin
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Structure of a wolf pack

• Each pack has a dominant pair who
• Patrol boundaries
• Settle disputes
• Control pack movements
• Do all the breeding
• Hierarchy maintained by movements of tail, ears,
  mouth and body, and by vocalisations.
• Subdominant females more aggressive than males.

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Group size

• Northern wolf packs gather in groups up to 30 in
  winter to hunt large prey such as moose in
  spring and summer, break up into basic packs
  (4-10) to hunt small prey (and to breed)
• Southern wolves remain in basic packs.

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Territoriality

• Scent marks placed along paths on conspicuous
  landmarks
• Borders marked very intensively
• Other pack members often endorse scent marks by
  dominants
• Howling marks territory, and is a cohesion
  mechanism within the pack
• Territory size 60-400km2 (up to 12,800 km2 in one
  Alaskan study)

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Hunting

• Northern wolves hunting is a very social
  activity, preceded by bonding ceremonies
  (tail-wagging, whining, mutual face-licking)
• Kill efficiency is low for moose, 8 for
  smaller deer 25-63 according to snow conditions
• Young prey more vulnerable in spring and summer,
  older animals in autumn and winter
• Sex ratio of kills, males females - 2½1
• Southern wolves kill gazelles, sheep and goats,
  hares commonly hunt singly

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Helper system

• Subordinate members of pack are offspring of
  previous years may delay dispersal till second
  or third year of life
• A helper may take part in the hunt, or stay with
  pups while other pack members are away
• On returning from a hunt, all pack members
  helpers as well as dominant pair regurgitate
  meat for the pups

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Wolf pups playing
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Breeding season

• At breeding time, much chorus howling, muzzling,
  fur sniffing, increase in play -
• - and increase in aggression, which may result in
  change of ranking
• Aggression begins in friendly interactions,
  escalates when challenger bites harder than usual
• Real fights are silent
• Loser runs away, often chased by all pack members

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Breeding

• Wolves breed late winter or early spring
• Dogs breed twice a year
• Mating tie lasting 10-30 minutes
• Gestation 63 days
• 1-4 or more per litter (some dog breeds very
  prolific)
• Eyes open 14 days
• Social responses well developed 6 weeks
• Fully mature 9-12 months

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Wolves and dogs

• Wolves, dingoes and working dogs have narrow
  shoulders, elbows turn inwards, hindfeet placed
  in tracks of forefeet (most dogs place hindfeet
  outside tracks of forefeet)
• Wolf and dingo tails low-slung, sickle-shaped
  many dogs curly-tailed
• Dogs jaws shortened (often uneven), teeth
  crowded, muzzle relatively broad
• Dogs have a stop (a sudden drop at root of
  nose) because of enlarged frontal sinuses

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Wolves and dogs, contd

• Earlier maturation (6-9 months)
• Two breeding seasons per year
• All males mark
• Barking enhanced
• Hunting sequence (track - stalk kill
  retrieve) has been disrupted
• Underfur lost in most, but overdeveloped (and
  guard hairs lost) in poodles
• Development of theory of mind as far as humans
  are concerned

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Changes in wolf skull under different rearing
conditions. But wolf does not develop a stop
Wild wolf (Poland) Wolf born wild, reared in
zoo Wolf born in and reared in zoo Wolf
whose parents were born in zoo
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Dingo
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Early colonial descriptions of New South Wales
mention dingo only as an Aboriginal camp dog
Is the long-coated Mountain Dingo a feral legacy
of the destruction of Aboriginal society in the
Southeast?
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When did dingoes arrive in Australia?

• Earliest finds
• Madura Cave, Nullarbor - 3450 95 B.P.
• Wombah, NSW - 3200 B.P.
• Fromms Landing, SA - 3000 B.P.
• They were never present in Tasmania or Kangaroo
  Island

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Dingoes are usually sandy-coloured. Black-and-tan
(B locus allele) and White (probably C locus?)
occur in wild unknown if this is natural, or due
to interbreeding with introduced dogs
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Dingo

• Usually roam solitary
• Group howling at breeding time (April-May)
• Make breeding dens
• Helper system as in wolves
• Only mother appears to bring food
• One helper remains near den
• Mother regurgitates water for pups
• Food mainly rabbits, but kangaroos, sheep
  sometimes hunted scavenge

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Dingo-like dogs in nearby regions
New Guinea Singing Dog
Tengger Wild Dog (East Java) Recorded in 1896,
and not since
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Thai dingoes?
Marginalized, pariah-like dogs resembling dingoes
in colour and skull
Koh Samui
The earliest are from Ban Chiang , N.E.Thailand,
5,500 years B.P.
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Corbett (1985) multivariate analysis of
Australian and Thai dingo skulls
Domestic dogs
Thai dingoes
Australian dingoes
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Brain size reduction in dogs
Log brain weight
Wolves
Dogs
Log body weight
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Modern breeds selected for intelligence (poodle,
German Shepherd) have increased brain size
compared with primitive dogs (Swiss Neolithic
Lake dwellings)
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- or New Guinea Singing Dogs
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- or Batak dogs (Sumatra)
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Earliest dogs?(short jaw, small carnassial,
crowded teeth)

• Oberkassel, Germany 14 ka
• Kebara, Israel 24-14 ka
• Kebara, Mallaha (Natufian) 12 ka
• Palegawra, Iraq 12 ka
• Seamer Carr, England 9.94 ka
• Fells Cave, Chile 8.5-6.5 ka
• Tocibara, Japan 8 ka

The Natufian dogs of Mallaha and Hayonim are
buried along with human skeletons
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Domestic dogs are used for -

• Companionship
• Draft (Inuit sledges Plains travois)
• Food (Africa, Mexico, China)
• Hair for blankets (Andes, Maori)
• Warmth (Australia, Mexico)
• Hunting
• Guarding settlements and stock
• Controlling stock animals
• Following scent trails
• Racing

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Sense of smell

• An individual humans trail followed even when
  criss-crossed by others (only identical twins
  smell the same)
• Only two seconds of hand contact needed
• Olfactory area of dog contains 14x as many cells
  as human
• But they are fallible as trackers part of cues
  comes from compressed earth and vegetation

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Allometry in dog skulls
Cranium of a large (21 kg) poodle Cranium of a
miniature (3 kg) poodle Large cranium reduced to
size of small one, to show change of proportions
consequent on change of size (allometry)
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Some breeds are grossly deformed
Large breed
Peke (overshot jaw)
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Origin of breeds

• A short-legged scent-hound known from Egyptian
  XII dynasty
• An Amratian bowl (Egypt, 4th mill. B.C.) depicts
  4 sight-hounds (saluki?) on a leash
• Guard dog (mastiff) known from Carthage
• Two presumed breeds, a large one and a small one,
  known from Maglemose (Germany, 8000-6500 B.C.)

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Egyptian greyhoundBeni Hassan, XII Dynasty (1900
B.C.)
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Hare, Brown, Williamson Tomasello
(2002)Experiments on ability of dogs to follow
social cues from humans

• Experimenter reached toward, gazed at, and marked
  a baited container.
• 9/11 dogs, but only 2/11 chimpanzees, used the
  social cue correctly
• Experimenter indicated baited container by (1)
  Gaze-point-tap, (2) Gaze-point, (3) Point, (4) No
  cue (control)
• All of 7 wolves performed at chance levels all
  of 7 dogs performed above chance level on GPT, 5
  on GP, 4 on P, none on Control.
• No effect of learning.

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Hare et al. (2002) contd.

• Experimenter hid food in the presence of dogs and
  wolves, who were required to find it after delay
  (nonsocial memory task).
• 4/5 dogs and 4/5 wolves performed above chance.
  (A control experiment showed no effect of
  olfaction).
• 32 puppies (9 to 26 weeks) tested in Gaze-Point
  and Gaze experiments.
• No effect of family- vs. litter-rearing
• No effect of learning
• No effect of age
• GP more effective than G

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Primitive breeds
Basenji (Congo)
Aikida (northern Japan)
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And finally
In South America, the genus Canis is replaced by
the genus Dusicyon (common names culpeo, zorro,
aguara - incorrectly called foxes)
Chilean fox, Dusicyon culpaeus
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Charles Hamilton Smith (1839)

• Several of the species of Dusicyon can be
  sufficiently tamed to accompany their masters to
  hunt in the forest without however being able to
  undergo much fatigue for when they find the
  sport not to their liking, they return home to
  await the return of the sportsmen

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• In domesticity they are excessive thieves, and
  go to prowl in the forest The native Indians
  who have domestic dogs of European origin
  invariably use the Spanish term perro, and
  greatly promote the increase of the breed in
  preference to their own, which they consider to
  be derived entirely, or with a cross, from the
  Aguaras of the woods

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• We find, from late information, that within the
  last 35 years the indigenous dogs of the Indians
  have been gradually replaced by the domestic
  European, and that now it is difficult to find
  any even in the more remote parts of the
  interior. When we were in the country around
  1810, this was not the case.

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Legacy of culpeo domestication?

• Until about 1880 a wolf inhabited the Falkland
  Islands (Malvinas)
• No indigenous people are known there
• There are no other indigenous mammals
• It had white muzzle and tail-tip like a dingo,
  enlarged frontal sinuses, and wide muzzle

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Falklands wolf,Dusicyon australis