Variation in Dogs
Science: Year 5 & 6 National Curriculum, topic 8.1.4
Variation in Dogs
Dogs show a lot of variation between individuals. Dogs show so much variation that they can be split into breeds.
Ancestors
- The wolf is the common ancestor of all dogs.
- Early humans domesticated wolves.
- Domesticating an animal means the animal is trained to be used as a pet or to complete work.
Domesticating wolves
- Different wolves had different features.
- Over hundreds of years, the different features of each wolf have led to different dogs like Poodles, Labradors and Dalmatians.
Creating new breeds
- Breeding a Poodle and Labrador together would make a dog that inherits features of both a Poodle and a Labrador.
- The breed of dog created by breeding a Poodle and a Labrador is called a Labradoodle.
Test yourself on Variation in Dogs
What word means that an animal is trained to be used as a pet or to complete work?