Paedomorphic facial expressions give dogs a selective advantage

Waller, BM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6303-7458, Peirce, K, Caeiro, CC, Scheider, L, Burrows, AM, McCune, S and Kaminski, J, 2013. Paedomorphic facial expressions give dogs a selective advantage. PLoS ONE, 8 (12): e82686. ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

How wolves were first domesticated is unknown. One hypothesis suggests that wolves underwent a process of self-domestication by tolerating human presence and taking advantage of scavenging possibilities. The puppy-like physical and behavioural traits seen in dogs are thought to have evolved later, as a byproduct of selection against aggression. Using speed of selection from rehoming shelters as a proxy for artificial selection, we tested whether paedomorphic features give dogs a selective advantage in their current environment. Dogs who exhibited facial expressions that enhance their neonatal appearance were preferentially selected by humans. Thus, early domestication of wolves may have occurred not only as wolf populations became tamer, but also as they exploited human preferences for paedomorphic characteristics. These findings, therefore, add to our understanding of early dog domestication as a complex co-evolutionary process.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	PLoS ONE
Creators:	Waller, B.M., Peirce, K., Caeiro, C.C., Scheider, L., Burrows, A.M., McCune, S. and Kaminski, J.
Publisher:	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date:	26 December 2013
Volume:	8
Number:	12
ISSN:	1932-6203
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1371/journal.pone.0082686 DOI 1383905 Other
Rights:	Copyright: © 2013 Waller et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	03 Nov 2020 13:18
Last Modified:	31 May 2021 15:14
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/41471

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