BACKGROUND It has been hypothesised that domestication altered the sequence of dental, skeletal, and sexual maturity of dogs when compared to their wolf ancestor. To test this we investigated a comprehensive sample of domestic dogs. METHODS We documented the timing of completed eruption of permanent dentition into occlusion (dental maturity) and the timing of growth plate closure at the proximal humerus (skeletal maturity) in ontogenetic series of wolves and 15 domestic dog breeds. Data for 137 domestic dog and 64 wolf individuals were collected based on radiographs and examination of macerated bones. RESULTS Our analyses show that domestic dogs exhibit a similar sequence of dental and skeletal maturity as the ancestral wolf. Although the absolute change of the age at attainment of sexual maturity is great in domestic dogs as compared to the wolf, the sequence of dental, skeletal, and sexual maturity is not altered as extensively, contradicting one previous hypothesis. Moreover, our data suggest that the chondrodystrophic dachshund attains skeletal maturity earlier than the non-chondrodystrophic breeds examined here. CONCLUSIONS Domestic dogs are more wolf-like in terms of the sequence of dental, skeletal, and sexual maturation than previously hypothesised. This implies that the domestication process and/or breed formation did not have a major impact on this sequence, although the absolute values of life history variables do have a greater range of variation than in the wild wolf.

中文翻译：

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与狼相比，家犬的牙齿、骨骼和性成熟顺序没有改变。

背景 人们假设，与狼的祖先相比，驯化改变了狗的牙齿、骨骼和性成熟的顺序。为了测试这一点，我们调查了家养狗的全面样本。方法 我们记录了狼和 15 个家犬品种的个体发育系列中恒牙列完全萌出到咬合（牙齿成熟）的时间和肱骨近端生长板闭合的时间（骨骼成熟）。根据射线照片和浸渍骨头的检查，收集了 137 只家犬和 64 只狼的数据。结果我们的分析表明，家犬表现出与祖先狼相似的牙齿和骨骼成熟顺序。尽管与狼相比，家犬性成熟年龄的绝对变化很大，但牙齿、骨骼和性成熟的顺序并没有发生广泛的改变，这与之前的一项假设相矛盾。此外，我们的数据表明，软骨营养不良的腊肠犬比此处检查的非软骨营养不良品种更早达到骨骼成熟。结论 家犬在牙齿、骨骼和性成熟的顺序方面比之前的假设更像狼。这意味着驯化过程和/或品种形成并没有对该序列产生重大影响，尽管生活史变量的绝对值确实比野狼具有更大的变异范围。