Dog brains are much smaller than wolf brains, but new research suggests modern breeding efforts have somewhat increased their relative size.
Compared to ancient dogs, modern breeds that developed in the past 150 years possess larger skulls compared to their body size. Yet scientists still don't know why.have shown that domesticating wild animals – like dogs, fish, pigs, cattle, sheep, rabbits, and cats – dramatically shrinks their relative brain size.But researchers discovered something unexpected when comparing the skulls of 159 dog breeds, including some wolves.
The findings suggest that while dog domestication thousands of years ago might have initially shrunk parts of the dog brain – like those related to mate choice, predators, or hunting – modern breeding has triggered some modest cognitive growth in the past century and a half."Different dog breeds live in varying levels of social complexity and perform complex tasks, which likely require a larger brain capacity,"CT scan of a Hungarian vizsla skull showing where the brain would sit.
That was not the case. Instead, the only factor that seemed to impact the relative brain size of modern dog breeds was how different their genes were compared to wolves – not the function of the breed, its litter size, or its life expectancy.
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