The evolutionary ecology of domestic animal

morphology & reproduction

Vision and the senses

 Why does the pupil shape vary between species?
 Pupil allows light in
 Opens more when light is needed, and closes to protect the eye from excessive light
 Horizontal pupil favors light and movement on the horizontal plane  increase
vision and field of view at ground level  can see more wider on the sides  see
better on a horizontal way  often herbivore  Cyclovergence = allows the eyes to
rotate to maintain their ideal position relative to the environment  eyes position
on the side of their heads
 Slit pupil can let in more light than round pupil  slit pupil good for detecting
vertical movement  can see up and down  often prey  eyes position on the
front of their face
 Both prey and hunter = Jumping spider need 3D vision  eyes in the front and on
the sides
 Sheep, cattle, and horses will often jump over shadows  they have bad depth
perception, find it difficult to judge if the shadow is a hole in the ground or not

 Cats have perfect vision with 30cm-3m, they can’t focus when its 10-30cm, and very
poor focus at 0-10cm (they can still see after 3m, but the focus gets worse)
 Cats use hearing a lot when they can’t see
 Cats have whiskers around their mouth, above their eyes, and on the back of their
front legs  uses these as a sense orang to feel/see where the prey is
 Whiskers are attached to muscles that the cat controls so it can use its whiskers
when walking around to judge the width of spaces, or sweep its whiskers forward to
help when attacking prey

 Dogs evolved from active predators who hunt their prey and often in the daytime.
They need a broder focal range for seeing prey across larger distances
 Foxes are “dogs” that have evolved to be like “cats”  convergent evolution = two
distantly related spices come to resemble each other because they need to solve the
same problems

 Eyes that glow in the dark? = have a mirror in the back of the eye (tapetum lucidum)
 Some of the light is reflected back out of the eye, which is why some animal’s
eyes appear to glow  light hit photoreceptors, any light that miss photoreceptors is
 bounced back to try again  it improves their eyesight during periods of low light to
help them to catch food or avoid being caught

 Flehman (seen in cats, horses and livestock (not in dogs))  pushes air into the
vomeronasal organ, VNO  (found in reptiles and mammals in the nasal cavity)  It
used to get information about other animals in the environment  pheromones 
Dogs sniff and licks their noses and then transfer it into their mouth where VNO sits

 Why is dogs’ sense of smell better? = long snout to collect information, brain
processing, wet nose, VNO and nostril shape
 Humans have 6million receptor and dogs 250 million receptors
 sensory organ that detects pheromones picked up by a dog’s wet nose, wind
directio0n
 Air is exhales through the sides
 Find prey from a long way, detect when females are fertile, identify territory

Diet & digestion

 Horses use fermentation in the hind gut and chew it longer  less infesens, need to
eat a lot more
 Cattle & sheep use fermentation in the stomach, with the food being sent back to
the mouth to chewing a number of times
 Carnivores’ intestinal tracts is shorter and simpler than for herbivores because they
don’t need to ferment plant material  higher acid concentration to kill bacteria and
viruses that might contaminate the meat

 Dogs = Tend to eat during the day when having free access to food, main meal at
dawn, during the day and at dusk  second dog in house hold will increase first dogs
interest in food  prefer sweet things, prefer non-meat protein  dogs are more
omnivorous than wolves because of selection for amylase during domestication 
higher amylase than wolves
 Cats = free access to food may choose small meals during both day and night 
calorific of value of each meal approximately the same that found in a mouse  very
particular eaters  cant taste sweet things, sensitive to bitter taste and will not eat
food with certain fats in them (saliva has lipase enzyme that make some fats bitter)
 prefer novel food over regular food, will show distinct reaction based on the food
palatability (will lick their noses)
 Horses = Graze for several hours  eat when other horses eat more when others are
eating, prefer to eat from ground or close to ground  avoid eating grass that
contaminated with feces  they like sweet things
  Sheep & cattle = Eat mostly during the day, limited preference for sweet food 
sheep gather grass with their incisors, cattle use their tongue to grasp grass and pull
it into the mouth to bite it off  eat more when in groups than alone  avoid eating
grass contaminated with feces
 Which species will crave salt or mineral and seek it out, and why?  herbivores will
seek out salt and mineral because it’s limited in most vegetation, carnivores’ wont

Limbs & locomotion

 Perissodactly = foot symmetry through 3rd toe (horses, tapirs, rhinoceros)
 Artiodactyl = foot symmetry between 3rd & 4th toes (camels, pigs, hippos, deer,
cattle, sheep, goats, giraffes)
 Horse leg = other digits may be reduced or disappear central digits often elongated
in herbivores
 Bone modification in the legs is often related to running speed (and support)
 Horse and giraffe have long legs, speed, loose toes to be able to run
 Tapir and pig have short legs, walking, use all their toes for support
 A pattern is seen during the evolution of the horse, as you get bigger you use less
toes to support yourself (why?)
 Longer legged animals = the loss of toes, while producing an advantage in terms of
speed and energy efficiency when running  increase the potential for injury in the
lower leg as a result of the extra strain 
 Horses= they need to absorb the shock to the legs in an effective way = the “frog”
acts as a shock absorber for the foot when it impacts with the ground  also
important for blood circulation in the leg  when foot contacts ground the hoof
bends outwards, the frog is compressed and this pushes blood back up the leg 
putting metal shoe restrict the expansion of the hoof and contact of the frog with the
ground  increasing stress to the legs and reducing blood return  outcome =
inflammation
 Cats balance on their toes  Gives them a longer stride and makes them faster 
By walking on their toes, cats had to evolve retractable claws to save them from
wear, so they are sharp when needed
 Dogs balance on their feet
 Gait classification has only 2 groups = walking & running

Reproduction
 Mating systems affect mate choice outcomes and so affect sexual selection
 Monogamy = one female and one male (sexes similar)
 Polygyny = multiple male and one male (male more colorful)
 Polyandry = one female and multiple males (female more colorful)
 Mostly polygyny in domestic animals (monogamy in dogs)
 Cattle = breed any time but show peak fertility May-July
 Sheep = breed in autumn, as day light is getting shorter
 Horses = breed in spring, as daylight is getting longer
 Domestic pig = breed any time
 Wild pig = breed early to mid-winter
 Domestic dog = breed any time
 Wolves = breed in early spring, as days are getting longer
 Timing of breeding + length of gestation = timing of birth
 Many animals time their breeding so their offspring will have plenty of food 
herbivores for the growth of grasses  carnivores for the birth of herbivores
 Seasonal breeders = usually seasonal responses in behavior results from
hormonal changes linked to changes in the light dark cycle  Natural selection
links melatonin releases from the pineal gland in their brain ….
 Ovulation cycle in female (most species)  egg being released at ovulation 
during the time of ovulation that sex with female is most likely to result in
fertilization of the egg
 Signs of ovulation can be physical swelling and discharge from the vagina
 Behavioral signals will often accompany this  female cat will howl
 Spontaneous ovulators = release the egg at a certain time during their cycle
(humans, dog, sheep, cattle, pig)
 Induced ovulators = animals who only release the egg if they are stimulated by
sexual activity (Cat)
 Concealed ovulation = (and continuous sexual receptivity) in a species is the lack
of any perceptible change in an adult female body or behavior when she is fertile
and near ovulation

 Painful sex = Male cat have backward pointed keratin spines on his penis || Dogs
lock themselves together for 40 min, can’t be separated
 Penis bone = found in most mammals (but is absent in humans, horses, cattle,
sheep, and rabbits)
 False pregnancy = Dogs uterus behaves as the dog is pregnant every time it
cycles  hormonal state is the same  it also sets them up for uterus infections
- pyometra
 Precocial = Why are some animals able to ger up only a few min after they are
born, they are the prey, usually has one offspring
 Altricial = And why are some animals completely dependent on their mother for
weeks-month after birth, they are the predators, more offspring