The emergence and diversification of dog morphology

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2025-11-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adt0995
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Human-Animal Interaction Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.09
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The emergence and diversification of dog morphology

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Human-Animal Interaction Studies
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article

The emergence and diversification of dog morphology

Emma Usmanova, Andrew C. Kitchener, Lídia Colominas, Myriam Boudadi‐Maligne, Greger Larson, Daniela C. Kalthoff, Yaroslav V. Kuzmin, Laurent Frantz, Ekaterina Antipina, Vincent Bonhomme, Kate Britton, Robert J. Losey, Susan J. Crockford, Виктор Мерц, Erika Rosengren, П. А. Косинцев, Sophie Dennis, Julien Claude, Colline Brassard, I. Merts, Z. Jack Tseng, Vedat Onar, André Rehazek, Allowen Evin, Joris Peters, Anna Linderholm, Mark Omura, Maria Mostadius, Paul W. Sciulli, María Saña, Joan Francès i Farré, Mikhail Sablin, Alan K. Outram, Ruth F. Carden, Виктор Васильевич Варфоломеев, Carly Ameen, Sergey Fedorov, Keith Dobney, Stefan Curth, Rick Knecht
article en
5 citations

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.

ScienceVol. 390(6774)
University College Dublin (IE), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Ural Federal University (RU), North-Eastern Federal University (RU), American Museum of Natural History (US), National Museums Scotland (GB), Harvard University (US), University of Liverpool (GB), Université de Bordeaux (FR), University of Alberta (CA), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), Stockholm University (SE), Queen Mary University of London (GB), Lund University (SE), University of Aberdeen (GB), Université de Montpellier (FR), University of Exeter (GB), Karaganda Buketov University (KZ), Zoological Institute (RU), Swedish Museum of Natural History (SE), University of Oxford (GB), Natural History Museum of Bern (CH), Institute of Archaeology (RU), Toraighyrov University (KZ), V.S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy (RU), VetAgro Sup (FR), Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (FR), Canadian Sport Centre Pacific (CA), National Historical Museums (SE), Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology (RU), Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (DE), Oxford Archaeology (GB), Institute of Archaeology (CN), Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (FR), Centre for Palaeogenetics (SE), Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh.Margulan (KZ), Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica (ES), Bavarian Natural History Collections (DE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Biological Museum, Lund University, The Ohio State University (US), Muğla University (TR), Universidad de Murcia (ES), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), Epigenomics (Germany) (DE), University of California, Berkeley (US), University of Edinburgh (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Human-Animal Interaction Studies
9.09
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