A change in the structure of their brain
From Newfoundland to Chihuahua, the canine species includes various breeds and individuals with different morphological characteristics and abilities that are the result of selection by humans. But these variations are not the only consequence of selective breeding. A recent American study conducted by the University of Georgia and relayed by the Journal of Neurosciences on September 2, 2019 has just demonstrated that these physical changes have also had an impact on the structure of the brain of our domestic canines.
During this study, researchers studied MRIs of the brains of 62 dogs belonging to 33 different breeds.First observation: the shape and size of the brain vary greatly from one breed to another and this goes well beyond the variety of shapes and sizes of the skulls that can be encountered between dogs of different breeds who participated in the study.
A significant correlation between developed neural networks and behavioral skills
By taking a closer look at areas of the brain that showed strong variation between races, the team of Erin Hecht, a neuroscientist at Harvard University, was able to establish six neural network maps that they correlated to different dog abilities such as hunting by sight, hunting by smell, guarding and sociability. For example, dogs sometimes used as police dogs - such as the Boxer or the Doberman - seem to have developed a greater neural network than other breeds in the regions involved in vision and smell.
Hunting dogs used for their sense of smell, meanwhile, showed differences not in brain regions that allow them to detect smells, but rather in areas of their brains that allow them to decipher and communicate this information in particular to Man to always be better useful to him!
A study conducted in companion dogs
The study showed differences in the brains of dogs even though they were "only" companion dogs. Indeed, the major drawback of the study, admitted by the author of the study in the columns of the Washington Post, is that it used companion dogs and not working dogs, in other words dogs that do not actively perform the functions for which their breed was created. Using working dogs could have accentuated the correlation highlighted by the study because the brain is malleable and changes with each new learning.
Recent brain changes
If the dog is an animal that has been present alongside humans for more than 15,000 years, the study has finally demonstrated that almost all the changes in the structure of the dog's brain only occurred very recently, in other words "in the terminal branches of the phylogenetic tree of the dog" .This last observation indicates recent changes in the scale of the evolution of dog breeds and that we owe, in all likelihood, to selective breeding carried out by humans.
Based on this observation, Erin Hecht, the author of the study, calls for more responsibility on the part of human beings for the way in which we alter, through our selection, the original brain structure. dogs and how we treat the animals we have treated them to.
May his call be heard!