The association between coat phenotype and morphology conducive to high running speeds in canis lupus familiaris
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Animal Behavior, Developmental Biology, Zoology
- Keywords
- shaggy, furry, speedy mutt
- Copyright
- © 2016 Cleather
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. The association between coat phenotype and morphology conducive to high running speeds in canis lupus familiaris. PeerJ Preprints 4:e1883v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1883v1
Abstract
The mechanics of animal locomotion has fascinated man for centuries. In particular, we have sought to understand why certain species are able to reach such prodigious running speeds (perhaps due to our woeful inadequacy in this area (Bramble & Lieberman, 2004)). Such investigations have focused on the role that functional anatomy and morphology play in facilitating the attainment of high running speeds (Williams, Payne & Wilson, 2007; Hudson et al., 2011). Canis lupus familiaris, or the domestic dog, serves as an excellent model for such investigations due to the great variation in running speeds exhibited across breeds, and there is a dense body of literature that has considered how the anatomy of certain canines has been adapted to the task of high speed running. Similarly, a great deal is known about the dog genome, and thus adaptations that are thought to be advantageous in the context of sprinting can be linked to their genetic basis (Mosher et al., 2007). Aerodynamics is one aspect of morphology that is known to be important for high speed running (Lull, 1904), yet despite this, the association between a dog’s coat phenotype and the ability to run fast has not been determined. This omission is surprising given the influence of the surface properties of a body on its aerodynamics. Here I use the breed definitions of the American Kennel Club (American Kennel Club, 1998), to show, graphically, statistically and in prose, by reference to previous literature (Cadieu et al., 2009), and by using the mass/height ratio to indicate morphological adaptations for high speed running, that within the larger dog breeds (and in particular within breeds that are known for their running ability (Fischer & Lilje, 2011)), there is no association between coat phenotype and other morphological adaptations that are known to be conducive to high speed running (τB = -0.23, p = 0.04).
Author Comment
This is a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints.
Supplemental Information
Figure 1. Examples of the variation in coat phenotype and mass/height (M/H) ratio for the breeds considered in this study
The dogs in the first row are all sight hounds, a group defined by its adaptations for high speed running (Fischer & Lilje, 2011). The dogs in the second row are other breeds not thought to be adapted for feats of great running speed.
Figure 2. The association between coat phenotype and morphology conducive to high speed running in 51 larger dog breeds
The mass/height ratio (y-axis) is used as a proxy for morphology conducive to high speed running (smaller values indicating a greater adaptation for high speed running). Breeds that lie towards the right of the figure are increasingly shaggy.
