People is not possible to divide into races. It has the new dna research has clearly shown. In addition, we are too mixed of all the migrations that over the millennia has överlagrats on each other. The differences between people with different geographical origins are usually superficial, and is, for example, how much pigment we have in the skin, hair and eyes, and how we can break down the different foods.
When it comes to dogs, however, can you really talk about races. That’s because people purposely breed to get dogs. Sometimes on the basis of appearance, but often on the basis of the properties.
have herding dogs who manage to keep together a flock of sheep and, if necessary, also to scare off the wolves. Hunting dogs that can find a moose, and mark it until the hunter comes. Or hunting dogs that can crawl in the hole and drive out the foxes. Who likes to swim and can retrieve shot ducks in the streams. The warm fur and can work together to pull a sled. That protects its owner against the invaders.
This conscious breeding is a sort of fast evolution. The dogs are excellent case studies when researchers are looking for genetic variants that cause disease in both dogs and people. A pioneer in this area is Kerstin Lindblad-Toh of Uppsala. She and her employees have, inter alia, found the genes that have been associated with several autoimmune disorders and with obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD.
a thing. Mental properties are something else and usually even more complicated.
the Recent publication of an american research team, a study of the heredity behind the behaviors that are typical of different dog breeds. The study is not yet published in any reviewed scientific journal, but is looking for förhandsläsning on the site BioRxiv. The principal author is Evan MacLean, a psychologist and anthropologist at the University of Arizona.
the Researchers started by looking at data on the behavior of the 14,000 dogs of more than one hundred races from a project called the Canine Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire. Where have tens of thousands of dog owners filled in a questionnaire about how their dogs behave in different situations. On the basis of the answers have the dogs and rasernas orientation ranked in fourteen different areas, such as aggression, läraktighet, anxiety, and loyalty.
with the dna studies of various breeds of dogs. And yes, they could see the genetic connection, especially for läraktighet, hunting instinct and the tendency to be aggressive towards strangers.
For example, found MacLean and his co-workers a gene that already has been previously identified in studies of wild foxes and foxes that have been bred to be as tame as possible. Breeds that are various aggressive also tend to have different variants of a gene called PDE7B and affects the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain.
Previous studies have also identified differences in behavior and genes between dogs and wolves. Dogs are much more social, less inclined to solve problems on their own and, on the whole, more childish than wolves. Dogs and wolves differ in terms of levels of the signaling substance oxytocin in the brain and when it comes to the genes associated with Williams-Beurens syndrome. People with this condition has an intellectual disability but an exceptionally social and friendly.
part of why people, and some wolves began to live together, during the ice age, 20.000–30.000 years ago.
They chose the safe that we were able to provide food. But we chose probably the wolves was the nicest society. Eventually they start working for us as hunting dogs, guard dogs, sled dogs, herding dogs…
Tasks, therefore, has made its mark in both the dogs ‘ genes to their personality.
