Evolution of facial muscle anatomy in dogs

Juliane Kaminski, Bridget M. Waller, Rui Diogo, Adam Hartstone-Rose, Anne M. Burrows

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Abstract

Domestication shaped wolves into dogs and transformed both their behavior and their anatomy. Here we show that, in only 33,000 y, domestication transformed the facial muscle anatomy of dogs specifically for facial communication with humans. Based on dissections of dog and wolf heads, we show that the levator anguli oculi medialis, a muscle responsible for raising the inner eyebrow intensely, is uniformly present in dogs but not in wolves. Behavioral data, collected from dogs and wolves, show that dogs produce the eyebrow movement significantly more often and with higher intensity than wolves do, with highest-intensity movements produced exclusively by dogs. Interestingly, this movement increases paedomorphism and resembles an expression that humans produce when sad, so its production in dogs may trigger a nurturing response in humans. We hypothesize that dogs with expressive eyebrows had a selection advantage and that “puppy dog eyes” are the result of selection based on humans’ preferences.
Original languageEnglish
Article number0
Pages (from-to)14677-14681
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume116
Issue number29
Early online date17 Jun 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Jul 2019

Keywords

  • facial muscle anatomy
  • domestic dogs
  • wolves
  • domestication

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