Every dog is genetically a very good boy
Dogs are genetically predisposed to be man’s best friend.
Scientists have discovered a chromosomal overlap between dogs and humans that could explain why dogs are so obsessed with us.
The new study, published July 19 in Scientific Advances, found that dogs have a few gene mutations similar to ones in humans with Williams-Beuren syndrome. One of the symptoms of this developmental disorder is a complete lack of social inhibition, which makes the person particularly outgoing and trusting.
“We’re not saying we have found the mutation that controls sociability,” Bridgett vonHoldt, one of the authors of the study, told The Verge. “The story is far from complete.”
VonHoldt first noted these similarities in a 2010 study and tested the theory by running a series of behavioral tests on 10 wolves and 18 dogs. Researchers placed the animals in a room with a puzzle box that contained a piece of summer sausage — first by themselves and then with a human. The wolves went for the sausage no matter what, but the dogs couldn’t focus if a human was in the room.
“What they’re really doing is just obsessively staring at this human,” vonHoldt said. “They don’t really care about the task, they’re just interested in the person.”
The research is part of a broader study that’s trying to figure out exactly how dogs evolved from wolves, and came to be domesticated. The team acknowledged that the sample of animals was small and more research needs to be carried out before they determine what exactly this new finding means.
“We haven’t found a ‘social gene,’ but rather an important [genetic] component that shapes animal personality and assisted the process of domesticating a wild wolf into a tame dog,” vonHoldt told Princeton.edu.