Friday, September 25, 2009

Dog Evolution - Case Study

Dear Case Study Teachers:

Our latest case study is “Not Necessarily on Purpose: Domestication and Speciation in the Canidae Family” by Thomas Horvath, Department of Biology, SUNY College at Oneonta.

In this clicker case, students learn about natural selection concepts and interpret phylogenies as they apply to the Canidae family. The case is based on the idea that the domestication of the dog was not likely an intentional event in human history. Rather, the dog as we know it was likely a result of natural selection events. Then, later intentional selective breeding events formed the many different breeds of dog. Most students are familiar with dogs and may be more open to the ideas of evolution and speciation when applied to this animal rather than to humans.

Case: http://www.sciencecases.org/dog_evolution/prelude.asp
Teaching Notes: http://www.sciencecases.org/dog_evolution/notes.asp
Case Collection: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/ubcase.htm

Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/in-the-doghouse-guilty-dog-on-gma-24642455

More interesting information about wolves, dogs, and evolution:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-how-dogs-evolved-20130124,0,1620029.story

http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2013/12/scienceshot-wolfs-sharp-eye-may-have-aided-dog-domestication

New information about wolf packs reveals a misconception about the pack hierarchy.  There are no alpha male and female positions in a pack.

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