Dogs and cats are increasingly similar to each other. It may seem like an absurdity, especially if you think, for example, of a painstaking and an alano. But The similarities between the two most popular pets in the world They are deeper than they seem, and they are a direct consequence of domestication. A new study published on Pnaswhich highlights the similarities in the Structure of the skull of different breeds of dogs and catsand explains how they are our fault.
A wide range of Musi. The study took into analysis 1,810 different skulls of dogs and catsbelonging to the most disparate breeds, from the Maine Coon to the collies, from the carlini to the Siamese. Compared with those of their wild ancestors, the skulls demonstrate a significant diversity of forms, superior to what is in nature. The wild canids, in fact, all tend to have an elongated skull, while the felines have more variations, but still lower than those of domestic cats.
The domestic variants of dogs and cats, says the study, made mutations more extreme. There are dogs with a long muzzle as in nature, of course, and also races with even longer muzzle than that of wild canids, but there are also breeds with a short and crushed muzzle – which are also found in cats, just think of Persian. In short, compared to the natural state of affairs, domestication has increased the variability of the forms of the skulls.
The problems of the crushed muzzle. In this way, however, we have also created major health problems for both dogs and cats. There artificial selection in fact he pushed us to preserve specimens with childhood traits (Large eyes, round head …): the result are races like the carlino or the bulldog, if we talk about dogs, or the aforementioned Persian if we talk about cats. They are races that we like very much, from an aesthetic point of view, but at a price.
The Short and crushed muzzlein fact, brings with it a series of health problems: respiratory, above all, but also neurological. In short, by dint of Select dogs and cats to make them look as much as possible to childrenwe have created similar races even if belonging to different species – and all in the same way problematic.
