Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey.
Department of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
J Anat. 2023 Dec;243(6):951-959. doi: 10.1111/joa.13929. Epub 2023 Jul 11.
Several large "shepherd" or livestock guardian dog (LGD) breeds were historically selectively bred to protect sheep and goat flocks in the Balkans, Anatolia, and the Caucasus regions. Although these breeds exhibit similar behavior, their morphology is different. Yet, the fine characterization of the phenotypic differences remains to be analyzed. The aim of this study is to characterize cranial morphology in the specific Balkan and West Asian LGD breeds. We use a 3D geometric morphometric in order to assess morphological differences regarding both shape and size between LGD breeds and compare this phenotypic diversity to close relative wild canids. Our results indicate that Balkan and Anatolian LGDs form a distinct cluster within a relatively large dog cranial size and shape diversity. Most LGDs display a cranial morphology that could be described as intermediate to the mastiff breeds and large herding dogs, except for the Romanian Mioritic shepherd which has a more brachycephalic cranium strongly resembling the bully-type dog cranial morphotype. Although often considered to represent an ancient type of dog, the Balkan-West Asian LGDs are clearly distinguishable from wolves, dingoes, and most other primitive and spitz-type dogs and this group displays a surprising cranial diversity.
几种大型的“牧羊犬”或家畜护卫犬（LGD）品种在历史上是经过选择性繁殖，以保护巴尔干半岛、安纳托利亚和高加索地区的绵羊和山羊群。虽然这些品种表现出相似的行为，但它们的形态却不同。然而，对表型差异的精细描述仍有待分析。本研究的目的是描述特定的巴尔干和西亚 LGD 品种的颅骨形态。我们使用 3D 几何形态测量法来评估 LGD 品种之间的形状和大小的形态差异，并将这种表型多样性与亲缘关系较近的野生犬科动物进行比较。我们的研究结果表明，巴尔干和安纳托利亚的 LGD 在相对较大的犬科动物颅骨大小和形状多样性中形成了一个独特的集群。大多数 LGD 显示出的颅骨形态可以被描述为介于獒犬品种和大型牧羊犬之间，除了罗马尼亚的米奥里提牧羊犬，它的颅骨更短，类似于恶霸犬的颅型。尽管 LGD 通常被认为是一种古老的犬种，但它们与狼、野狗以及大多数其他原始和尖嘴犬种明显不同，并且该群体显示出令人惊讶的颅骨多样性。
