Dog
hideThe dog (Canis lupus familiaris, pronounced /ˈkeɪ.nis ˈluːpəs fʌˈmɪliɛəris/) is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history. Amongst canine enthusiasts, the word "dog" may also mean the male of a canine species, as opposed to the word "bitch."
The dog quickly became ubiquitous across culture in all parts of the world, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed that the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs. Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, protection, and, more recently, assisting handicapped individuals. Currently, there are estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.
Over the 15,000 year span that the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of landraces, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behavior have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles. As the modern understanding of genetics developed, humans began to intentionally breed dogs for a wide range of specific traits. Through this process, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the withers ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; color varies from white through grays (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth. It is common for most breeds to shed this coat, but non-shedding breeds are also popular.
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News tagged with dogs
New clues to the Falklands wolf mystery
Nov 02, 2009 |
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Ever since the Falklands wolf was described by Darwin himself, the origin of this now-extinct canid found only on the Falkland Islands far off the east coast of Argentina has remained a mystery. Now, researchers ...
A new take on why social cues confuse babies and dogs in a classic hiding game
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Sep 24, 2009 |
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A study by developmental scientists at the University of Iowa and Indiana University challenges the conclusions of two recent studies on how babies and dogs respond to certain social cues. The new findings, published in this ...
Why Obama's Dog Has Curly Hair? Study Finds 3 Dog Coat Genes
Aug 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah researchers used data from Portuguese water dogs - the breed of President Barack Obama's dog Bo - to help find a gene that gives some dogs curly hair and others long, wavy ...
Black wolves: The first genetically modified predators?
Biology /
Feb 05, 2009 |
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Emergence of black-colored wolves is the direct result of humans raising dogs as pets and beasts of burden, according to new research by a University of Calgary biologist published today by the prestigious ...
Sniffing out clues to dogs' compulsive behavior
Dec 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- At first glance, a dog chasing its tail seems a harmless, if fruitless, pursuit. But for many dogs and their owners, the habit has a dark side, one that means endless hours and energy spent ...
Panda genome resembles dog: Chinese media
Dec 13, 2009 |
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A detailed genome map of the giant panda completed by Chinese scientists has shown that the notoriously shy animal is genetically similar to the dog, state media reported Sunday.
Cradle and birthday of dog identified
Sep 01, 2009 |
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Previous studies in the field have indicated that East Asia is where the wolf was tamed and became the dog. It was not possible to be more precise than that. But now researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology ...
New insights into the 'smell of death' could help recover bodies in disasters and solve crimes
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Aug 17, 2009 |
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In an advance toward the first portable device for detecting human bodies buried in disasters and at crime scenes, scientists today report early results from a project to establish the chemical fingerprint ...
Renowned canine researcher puts dogs' intelligence on par with two-year-old human
Aug 08, 2009 |
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Although you wouldn't want one to balance your checkbook, dogs can count.
Researchers study genetic evolution of African dogs
Aug 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- African village dogs are not a mixture of modern breeds but have directly descended from an ancestral pool of indigenous dogs, according to a Cornell-led genetic analysis of hundreds of semi-feral ...
Human-dog communication -- breed as important as species
Jul 24, 2009 |
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Dog breeds selected to work in visual contact with humans, such as sheep dogs and gun dogs, are better able to comprehend a pointing gesture than those breeds that usually work without direct supervision. A series of tests, ...
Babies understand dogs
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jul 20, 2009 |
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New research shows babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks - despite little or no previous exposure to dogs.
Researchers discover evolutionary event underlying the origin of dachshunds, dogs with short legs
Jul 16, 2009 |
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A single evolutionary event appears to explain the short, curved legs that characterize all of today's dachshunds, corgis, basset hounds and at least 16 other breeds of dogs, a team led by the National Human ...
Not Only Dogs, but Deer, Monkeys and Birds Bark to Deal with Conflict
Jul 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Biologically speaking, many animals besides dogs bark, according to Kathryn Lord at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but the evolutionary biologist also says domestic dogs vocalize ...
Once-a-month pill for both fleas and ticks in Fido and Fluffy
Jun 25, 2009 |
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Scientists in New Jersey are describing discovery and successful tests of the first once-a-month pill for controlling both fleas and ticks in domestic dogs and cats. Their study is in the current issue of ...
