Cranial morphology of Balkan and West Asian livestock guardian dogs

Abstract

Several large “shepherd” or livestock guardian dog (LGD) breeds were historically selectively bred to protect sheep and goat flocks in the Balkans, Anatolia, and the Caucasus regions. Although these breeds exhibit similar behavior, their morphology is different. Yet, the fine characterization of the phenotypic differences remains to be analyzed. The aim of this study is to characterize cranial morphology in the specific Balkan and West Asian LGD breeds. We use a 3D geometric morphometric in order to assess morphological differences regarding both shape and size between LGD breeds and compare this phenotypic diversity to close relative wild canids. Our results indicate that Balkan and Anatolian LGDs form a distinct cluster within a relatively large dog cranial size and shape diversity. Most LGDs display a cranial morphology that could be described as intermediate to the mastiff breeds and large herding dogs, except for the Romanian Mioritic shepherd which has a more brachycephalic cranium strongly resembling the bully‐type dog cranial morphotype. Although often considered to represent an ancient type of dog, the Balkan–West Asian LGDs are clearly distinguishable from wolves, dingoes, and most other primitive and spitz‐type dogs and this group displays a surprising cranial diversity.

Breed-Specific Skull Morphology Reveals Insights into Canine Optic Chiasm Positioning and Orbital Structure through 3D CT Scan Analysis

“…An alternative method involves calculating the SI by acquiring the 3D coordinate points of landmarks and calculating the cranial length and width in 3D space, a requirement for measuring the SI of a 3D skull model [27,32]. This method has been applied in various studies of geometric morphometry [3,6,30,32,[44][45][46][47][48][49]. However, our study used landmark-based morphometrics focusing on orbital and optic chiasm landmarks.…”

Shape and Size Variations of Distal Phalanges in Cattle

“…The resulting shape data are most commonly reduced in dimensionality through principal component analysis. In recent years, 3D shape analysis has become much more readily available [15][16][17], and landmarking automation has enabled the reliable collection of standardized sets of landmarks [18].…”

Morphometric analysis of the skulls of a ram and ewe Romanov sheep (Ovis aries) with 3D modelling

“…For this purpose, many three‐dimensional, radiological and different modelling studies have been carried out on bones. (Baygeldi et al., 2022 ; Demircioğlu et al., 2020 ; Guzel et al., 2022 ; Güzel et al., 2022; Gündemir et al., 2023a ; Gündemir et al., 2023b ; Gündemir et al., 2023c ; Hadžiomerović et al., 2023 ; Yılmaz & Demircioğlu, 2020 ; Yılmaz & Demircioğlu, 2021 ; Szara et al., 2023 ). However, no study has been found that examines the skulls of Romanov sheep in detail.…”