DocsDoctor Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 I haven't seen this mentioned yet on Greytalk so thought some of you might be interested. A new study by a US/Swedish team suggests that, compared to wolves, dogs have many more genes for metabolising starch - and so for scavenging and digesting the kind of waste likely to be produced by early farming settlements: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21142870 Quote Clare with Tiger (Snapper Gar, b. 18/05/2015), and remembering Ken (Boomtown Ken, 01/05/2011-21/02/2020) and Doc (Barefoot Doctor, 20/08/2001-15/04/2015)."It is also to be noted of every species, that the handsomest of each move best ... and beasts of the most elegant form, always excel in speed; of this, the horse and greyhound are beautiful examples."----Wiliam Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, 1753. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cwholsin Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_daerr Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Wow! Very interesting! I guess this debunks the whole "dogs are carnivores, carbs are bad" theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocsDoctor Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 Wow! Very interesting! I guess this debunks the whole "dogs are carnivores, carbs are bad" theory. Yes, that was my thought on reading it too! Quote Clare with Tiger (Snapper Gar, b. 18/05/2015), and remembering Ken (Boomtown Ken, 01/05/2011-21/02/2020) and Doc (Barefoot Doctor, 20/08/2001-15/04/2015)."It is also to be noted of every species, that the handsomest of each move best ... and beasts of the most elegant form, always excel in speed; of this, the horse and greyhound are beautiful examples."----Wiliam Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, 1753. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnzaFerrari Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 There was an article in the Post two days ago. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/learning-to-love-cereal-was-key-to-the-evolution-of-dogs/2013/01/23/30c47500-6510-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greysmom Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 I first saw this theory several years ago on a PBS show about dogs. Quite interesting. Quote Chris - Mom to: Felicity (DeLand), and Andi (Braska Pandora) siggy by Chris Harper, on Flickr Angels: Libby (Everlast), Dorie (Dog Gone Holly), Dude (TNJ VooDoo), Copper (Kid's Copper), Cash (GSI Payncash), Toni (LPH Cry Baby), Whiskey (KT's Phys Ed), Atom, Lilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest undergreysspell Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest grey_dreams Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Interesting article! I've read (but can't find the article now) that in evolutionary terms, the most important function of early domesticated dogs was to dispose of the human feces around the settlements. Human feces still accounts for something like 80% of dog diet in 3rd world countries. They think that this is one reason why coprophagia is so prevalent in dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Giselle Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 There has been a lot of evidence in the past to suggest that dogs evolved passively by scavenging human waste. However, like the article alluded, there is a bit of a time lag between when dogs became a distinct species and when people started pursuing agriculture/congregating in large enough groups to generate trash. So, there's still a lot of controversy. That said, morphologically, dogs have a very simple gastrointestinal tract like humans. There is a very rich field that studies "natural" animal diets using evolutionary/morphological clues, and what I seem to conclude from that info is that dogs (like people) are selectively omnivorous. When given the opportunity to eat meat, dogs and people will preferentially choose animal-source food (barring any moral objections ). But dogs and people can live very well on largely vegetarian and, yes, carbohydrate-laden diets. I don't know whoever said that carbs were "bad" for dogs anymore than I can understand why people think carbs are "bad" at all. Our brain feeds off glucose and only glucose. Never mind those pesky ketone bodies! Animals with big brains (like dogs!) need a steady source of glucose, and it only makes sense that they have the morphological traits necessary to consume large amounts of glucose, like carb-specific enzymes. Here's another geneticist offering his findings on dogs and evolution: http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=2259&utm_source=cornellcast_weekly_update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2259 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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