Can the evolution of one species copy from another?
Jonathan Losos, William H. Danforth distinguished university professor at Washington University in St. Louis, looks to answer this.
Jonathan Losos is a renowned evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis. His lab researches the behavioral and evolutionary ecology of lizards as well as the evolutionary adaptation of wild species to urban habitats. Losos also leads the Living Earth Collaborative, a partnership between WashU, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the St. Louis Zoo to advance the study of biodiversity. He is the author of three books, including most recently “The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savannah to Your Sofa” (Penguin Random House, May 2, 2023).
Copycat Evolution Between Certain Breeds of Cats and Dogs
Anyone can tell a dog from a cat, right? Not so fast! Our recent study found that selection for baby-like features — big eyes, small noses, and round heads — has led to the evolution of breeds of dogs and cats whose skulls are very similar.
If I showed you the skulls of a Pekinese dog, a Persian cat, and typical dogs and cats, you would easily see that the Peke and the Persian are much more similar to each other than they are to standard members of their species.
The story of this research began years ago when a Cornell University scientist, Abby Drake, visited a museum in Switzerland full of pedigree dog skeletons. She measured the skulls of these dogs and found that dog breeds are much more varied in skull shape than wild canines such as wolves, foxes, and coyotes.
As an evolutionary biologist, I was fascinated; and as a cat-lover, I was intrigued. What about our feline friends? Are breeds of cats similarly more diverse than wild feline species? Drake and I teamed up to find out.
In a word, the answer is yes: breeds of cats differ much more from each other than the variation seen among tigers, lions, and ocelets.
But while working on the project, we stumbled on the unexpected similarity of flat-faced breeds.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Throughout my career, I have focused on how species that experience similar natural selection pressures evolve the same features. Biologists call this “convergent evolution.”
Our study shows that a different kind of selection — driven by human choices — can also produce convergent evolution. And in this case, that selection has been so strong that it has mostly eliminated the difference between dogs and cats.
Read More:
[WashU Newsroom] – Copycat Evolution
[Penguin Random House] – The Cat’s Meow – How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa
