Following my May 2022 post about Elinor Karlsson’s Science article on the genetic survey of dogs through the Darwin’s Ark project, and its conclusion that a dog’s breed does not predict its behavior, ...

New evidence reveals that behavior, including hive mentality or groupthink, may be predetermined by genetics. Generally, we consider behavior to be learned. By interacting with the world, different ...

Behavioral genetics is a field of scientific research that examines genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in behavior. Behavioral genetics aims to answer the fundamental ...

Your dog’s ability to learn new tricks may be less a product of your extensive training than their underlying genetics. Among 101 dog breeds, scientists found that certain behavioral traits such as ...

From the excitable sheep dog to the aloof Shiba Inu, and all breeds in between, dogs have unique and diverse behavioral traits. By analyzing DNA samples from over 200 dog breeds along with nearly ...

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has been a favorite model of developmental biologists and geneticists, but only recently have investigators begun to appreciate its usefulness in behavior genetics. Papers ...

Border collies are highly trainable, greyhounds love to chase, and German shepherds make good guard dogs. While the environment plays a role, traits like these are highly heritable, according to a ...

Turns out we may be unfairly stereotyping dogs. Modern breeds are shaped around aesthetics: Chihuahuas’ batlike ears, poodles’ curly fur, dachshunds’ hot dog shape. But breeds are frequently ...

This half-hour talk describes the specification of the ACE model that is widely used in human behavioral genetic studies. It considers how a model where a, c and e path coefficients are estimated ...

A new study that analyzed the DNA of nearly half a million people has found that while genetic differences play a significant role in sexual preference, there is no single gene responsible. The ...