Breed Differences in Domestic Dogs' (Canis familiaris) Comprehension of Human Communicative Signals

Recent research suggests that some human-like social skills evolved in dogs (Canis familiaris) during domestication as an incidental by-product of selection for “tame” forms of behavior. It is still possible, however, that the social skills of certain dog breeds came under direct selection that led to further increases in social problem solving ability. To test this hypothesis, different breeds of domestic dogs were compared for their ability to use various human communicative behaviors to find hidden food. We found that even primitive breeds with little human contact were able to use communicative cues. Further, “working” dogs (shepherds and huskies: thought to be bred intentionally to respond to human cooperative communicative signals) were more skilled at using gestural cues than were non-working breeds (basenji and toy poodles: not thought to have been bred for their cooperative-communicative ability). This difference in performance existed regardless of whether the working breeds were more or less genetically wolf-like. These results suggest that subsequent to initial domesticating selection giving rise to cue-following skills, additional selection on communicative abilities in certain breeds has produced substantive differences in those breeds’ abilities to follow cues.Anthropolog

Disentangling canid howls across multiple species and subspecies: Structure in a complex communication channel.

Wolves, coyotes, and other canids are members of a diverse genus of top predators of considerable conservation and management interest. Canid howls are long-range communication signals, used both for territorial defence and group cohesion. Previous studies have shown that howls can encode individual and group identity. However, no comprehensive study has investigated the nature of variation in canid howls across the wide range of species. We analysed a database of over 2000 howls recorded from 13 different canid species and subspecies. We applied a quantitative similarity measure to compare the modulation pattern in howls from different populations, and then applied an unsupervised clustering algorithm to group the howls into natural units of distinct howl types. We found that different species and subspecies showed markedly different use of howl types, indicating that howl modulation is not arbitrary, but can be used to distinguish one population from another. We give an example of the conservation importance of these findings by comparing the howls of the critically endangered red wolves to those of sympatric coyotes Canis latrans, with whom red wolves may hybridise, potentially compromising reintroduced red wolf populations. We believe that quantitative cross-species comparisons such as these can provide important understanding of the nature and use of communication in socially cooperative species, as well as support conservation and management of wolf populations.Recording work was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Tennessee. AK is supported by a Herchel Smith postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Part of this work was carried out while AK was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, an Institute sponsored by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. BH is thankful to the State Forest Departments of Himachal Pradesh, J&K, and Maharashtra, and to various zoos in India for permitting us to record howls. HRG is grateful to all who helped with the project: the staff at Colchester Zoo; the Wildwood Trust, the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics; the British Library; Lupus Laetus; Polish Mammal Research Institute; Tigress Productions; the BBC Natural History Unit; Longleat Safari Park; Tierstimmen Archiv; Wild Sweden; Wolf Park; the Macaulay Sound Library and the UK Wolf Conservation Trust; and Mike Collins, Teresa Palmer, Monty Sloan, Karl-Heinz Frommolt, Yorgos Iliopoulos, Christine Anhalt, Louise Gentle, Richard Yarnell, Victoria Allison Hughes and Susan Parks. BRM thanks the USDA/APHIS/WS/National Wildlife Research Center for supporting his doctoral research and providing access to captive coyotes; recording work was approved by the NWRC IACUC. SW thanks Mariana Olsen for assistance with data collection, and Yellowstone National Park for permission to record.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2016.01.00

Data from: Elucidating biogeographical patterns in Australian native canids using genome wide SNPs

Dingoes play a strong role in Australia’s ecological framework as the apex predator but are under threat from hybridization and agricultural control programs. Government legislation lists the conservation of the dingo as an important aim, yet little is known about the biogeography of this enigmatic canine, making conservation difficult. Mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA studies show evidence of population structure within the dingo. Here, we present the data from Illumina HD canine chip genotyping for 23 dingoes from five regional populations, and five New Guinea Singing Dogs to further explore patterns of biogeography using genome-wide data. Whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data supported the presence of three distinct dingo populations (or ESUs) subject to geographical subdivision: southeastern (SE), Fraser Island (FI) and northwestern (NW). These ESUs should be managed discretely. The FI dingoes are a known reservoir of pure, genetically distinct dingoes. Elevated inbreeding coefficients identified here suggest this population may be genetically compromised and in need of rescue; current lethal management strategies that do not consider genetic information should be suspended until further data can be gathered. D statistics identify evidence of historical admixture or ancestry sharing between southeastern dingoes and South East Asian village dogs. Conservation efforts on mainland Australia should focus on the SE dingo population that is under pressure from domestic dog hybridization and high levels of lethal control. Further data concerning the genetic health, demographics and prevalence of hybridization in the SE and FI dingo populations is urgently needed to develop evidence based conservation and management strategies

Maximum likelihood population clustering analysis on ‘Dataset A’ (23 dingoes and 5 NGSD) at 58,512 SNP loci.

<p>Average Q-plot for K = 4 constructed in Distruct v1.1 [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0198754#pone.0198754.ref077" target="_blank">77</a>]. Each column represents an individual and the proportion population cluster identity. Population clusters are represented by colours: green for New Guinea Singing Dog, red for southeastern, purple for Fraser Island and blue for northwestern.</p

Genotype file for Canine HD array from 24 dingoes (bed)

Illumina CanineHD SNP data from 24 dingoes. In PLINK binary format (.bed, .bim and .fam)

Distribution of Fraser Island dingo samples and natal pack territories.

<p>The location of dingo samples is indicated by enclosed grey circles and the boundaries of estimated natal pack territories adapted from Allen et al. [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0198754#pone.0198754.ref089" target="_blank">89</a>] are drawn in dark grey.</p

Geographical map depicting sampling location of each sample from ‘Dataset A’ and its majority population cluster identity.

<p>NGSD samples (plotted in Papua New Guinea) are from a captive North American population.</p

Description of datasets and samples used in analyses.

<p>Description of datasets and samples used in analyses.</p

Maximum likelihood population clustering analysis on 23 dingoes, 5 NGSD, 8 Borneo village dogs, 9 Vietnam village dogs, 10 Portugal village dogs and 8 Australian cattle dogs (‘Dataset B’) at 58,512 SNP loci.

<p>Average Q-plots constructed in Distruct v1.1 [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0198754#pone.0198754.ref077" target="_blank">77</a>]. Each column represents an individual and the proportion population cluster identity. Abbreviations represent populations: NGSD for New Guinea Singing Dog; NW for northwestern dingoes; FI for Fraser Island dingoes; and SE for southeastern (Alpine) dingoes; BVD for Borneo village dogs; VVD for Vietnam village dogs; PVD for Portugal village dogs and ACD for Australian cattle dogs. <b>(A)</b> Average Q-plot for K = 5. <b>(B)</b> Average Q-plot for K = 7.</p

Maximum likelihood tree based upon 4,913 ancestry informative markers in 23 dingoes and 5 NGSD (‘Dataset A’).

<p>The tree was constructed via the SNPhylo pipeline [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0198754#pone.0198754.ref082" target="_blank">82</a>], with 6,000 non-parametric bootstrap replicates. Bootstrap values located above nodes, values below 60 not shown. Colours represent population clusters: red for SE dingoes, purple for FI dingoes, blue for NW dingoes and green for NGSD. Circles indicate mitochondrial lineage with; black for NW and orange for SE [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0198754#pone.0198754.ref062" target="_blank">62</a>]. Squares depict Y chromosome haplogroup with; green for H1, blue for H3 and red for H60 [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0198754#pone.0198754.ref067" target="_blank">67</a>].</p