The black-and-tan pattern differs between the dingo and the kelpie breed of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)

INTRODUCTION

The dingo is colour-polymorphic, with a black-and-tan morph.

Various breeds of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) also feature black-and-tan patterns of colouration.

The black-and-tan pattern is significant, in evolutionary terms, because it represents an 'wild-type' colouration,

adaptive to the original niche of an ancestral species of Canis, and
different from the colouration of any subspecies, or individual, if the wolf (Canis lupus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf).

The kelpie breed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Kelpie) is particularly comparable to the dingo, because it has

relatively small body size,
generalised body-form, and
variable colouration of individuals, in which siblings can differ in the presence/absence of a black-and-tan pattern (https://www.cuteness.com/blog/content/kelpie-black-tan-characteristics).

AIMS

In this Post, I compare the black-and-tan configurations between the dingo and the kelpie.

RESULTS

The dingo and the kelpie differ considerably, in the following ways:

The pale eyebrow-spots are smaller in the dingo than in the kelpie.
The pectoral pale patches are less divided (between left and right) in the dingo than in the kelpie.

Posted on 16 June, 2024 16:35 by

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