Lord Kathryn, Feinstein Mark, Smith Bradley, Coppinger Raymond
Hampshire College, School of Cognitive Science, Amherst, MA 01002, USA.
Behav Processes. 2013 Jan;92:131-42. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2012.10.009. Epub 2012 Oct 30.
We compare differences in the reproductive strategies of "free-living" dogs with their wild relatives in the genus Canis, of which the dog is a very recently evolved member. The members of this genus display a greater range of parental motor patterns than generally seen in other species of Carnivora, including pair-bonding and extended parental care; parents regurgitate to offspring and provision them with food for months to as long as a year. But the domestic dog does not routinely display these genus-typical behaviors. While this has generally been assumed to be a result of direct human intervention, humans have little reproductive control over the vast majority of domestic dogs. We analyze the low frequency of display of genus-typical behaviors and postulate that the dog's reproductive behaviors are an adaptation to permanent human settlement and the waste resources associated with it. Adaptation to this environment has decreased seasonality, increased the fecundity of unrestrained dogs and reduced the need for prolonged parental care. The consequences of greater fecundity and reduced parental care are compared to the reproductive behavior of other species of the genus.
我们比较了“自由生活”的狗与其犬属野生亲戚在繁殖策略上的差异，狗是该属中最近进化出来的成员。该属成员表现出比其他食肉动物物种通常所见范围更广的亲代行为模式，包括配偶结合和延长亲代抚育；父母会反刍食物给后代，并为它们提供长达数月乃至一年的食物。但家犬通常不会表现出这些该属典型行为。虽然人们普遍认为这是直接人类干预的结果，但人类对绝大多数家犬几乎没有生殖控制。我们分析了该属典型行为表现频率较低的情况，并推测狗的繁殖行为是对人类永久定居以及与之相关的废弃资源的一种适应。对这种环境的适应减少了季节性，提高了未绝育狗的繁殖力，并减少了对长期亲代抚育的需求。将更高繁殖力和减少亲代抚育的后果与该属其他物种的繁殖行为进行了比较。
