Journal article
The emergence and diversification of dog morphology
- Abstract:
- Dogs exhibit an exceptional range of morphological diversity as a result of their long-term association with humans. Attempts to identify when dog morphological variation began to expand have been constrained by the limited number of Pleistocene specimens, the fragmentary nature of remains, and difficulties in distinguishing early dogs from wolves on the basis of skeletal morphology. In this study, we used three-dimensional geometric morphometrics to analyze the size and shape of 643 canid crania spanning the past 50,000 years. Our analyses show that a distinctive dog morphology first appeared at about 11,000 calibrated years before present, and substantial phenotypic diversity already existed in early Holocene dogs. Thus, this variation emerged many millennia before the intense human-mediated selection shaping modern dog breeds beginning in the 19th century.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 1.8MB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1126/science.adt0995
Authors
+ European Research Council
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0472cxd90
- Grant:
- ERC-2019-STG-852573-DEMETER
- Programme:
- H2020
+ European Research Council
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0472cxd90
- Grant:
- 337574
+ Natural Environment Research Council
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/02b5d8509
- Grant:
- NE/K005243/2
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Journal:
- Science More from this journal
- Volume:
- 390
- Issue:
- 6774
- Pages:
- 741-744
- Publication date:
- 2025-11-13
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-09-09
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1095-9203
- ISSN:
-
0036-8075
- Language:
-
English
- Pubs id:
-
2328610
- Local pid:
-
pubs:2328610
- Deposit date:
-
2025-11-18
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Evin et al
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- © 2025 the authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original US government works.
- Notes:
- The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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