Why are Dogs so Different?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Chihuahuas to Great Danes, Mexican Hairless to Afghan Hounds, dogs are the most diverse mammal on the planet. There are currently over 500 recognised breeds worldwide with almost every conceivable combination of size, shape, coat, colour and behaviour.
But why are there so many different kinds of dog?
That's what listener Simon St-Onge in Quebec, Canada wants to know – and CrowdScience has taken up the challenge.
Presenter Marnie Chesterton heads to Sweden, a world-class centre of canine research, to sniff around for answers. She finds out how the grey wolf morphed into the vast variety of dogs we have today, and heads out on a moose hunt with one of Scandinavia's most ancient breeds.
But are dogs really as different as they seem on the surface? The dog genome is revealing more about man's best friend than ever before – and could now be the answer to understanding both dog and human health.
Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk
(Image: Tika, the Russian-European Laika)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi podcast listeners thank you for downloading this edition of Crowd Science from the BBC World Service |
| 0:05.6 | Bravo excellent choice I go off on an adventure courtesy of a listener question if If you have a question, stay tuned because details of how to send it to me are at the end of the program. |
| 0:21.0 | Hello and |
| 0:25.0 | I'm here to try and help you the listener find out answers to life's |
| 0:32.0 | and I'm here to try and help you the listener find out answers to life's burning questions. This week our big question comes from |
| 0:35.4 | Simon. Hello crowd science, I'm Simone Cents and I'm calling you from Quebec in |
| 0:40.5 | Canada. My question for today's program is why are there so many kinds of dog? |
| 0:46.0 | Just wondering why you're interested. Are you a dog person? |
| 0:50.0 | We have a family dog these days. My sister have it right now, so we just exchange it from family. |
| 0:57.0 | Like a time share, but in a dog? |
| 1:00.0 | Exactly. What kind of dog have you got? It's a Labrador actually, it's a mixed Labrador. |
| 1:05.0 | You know they can swim which is very interesting. |
| 1:08.0 | So that's what interests me really. |
| 1:10.0 | It's all these adaptations they have and they are incredibly diverse, you know. |
| 1:17.0 | Imagine a Chihuahua and a Saint Bernard are both dogs. |
| 1:21.0 | It seems impossible to obtain that vast amount of genetic trait |
| 1:25.3 | would a tame version of the wolf as a biological basis. You're right when you think |
| 1:29.9 | about it. If you ask someone to draw a dog you probably get 12 different drawings from 12 different people. |
| 1:35.0 | It's true our own perception of this animal is as various as they are kind of a form of this animal. |
| 1:43.4 | Yes, I think you're right. |
| 1:45.4 | Now, some of you might be sitting there at the moment saying the reason to why there are so many different |
| 1:50.0 | kinds of dogs is because we bred them that way obviously and sure that's partly right but |
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