Shar-pei – Why so wrinkly?
So just how, and possibly more interestingly, why, do Shar-pei dogs have such amazing wrinkles?
Research has been carried out by scientists into ten different dog breeds and they think that they have come up with the answer. Their research has identified 155 distinct locations in the animal’s genetic code that they think will play a distinctive role in the breed’s appearance. In particular, the Shar-pei has a difference in a gene known as HAS2 which has an effect on the enzyme known to be influential in the production of the skin.
But while this may have originally been caused by a genetic mutation, like all modern dog breeds, the real creator of the Shar-pei is the human being. The breeder of the puppy with that genetic mutation may have thought that the wrinkly puppy looked interesting and went forward, selectively breeding that trait into future generations, creating the Shar-pei breed.
We as dog owners, breeders and human beings, have become fascinated, and in many cases, obsessed, with meddling with the genetic makeup of dogs. We like to call it Pedigree, but in many ways, this is just a series of controls on the makeup of the breed of dog that now matches a human template which we are constantly looking to improve and enhance. The process started some 10,000 years ago with the gradual domestication of the Grey Wolf, and the selective breeding that followed has resulted in over 400 different breeds of dog, all with a unique and very distinctive physique, coat, colour, behaviour and ‘human roles’.
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