UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
Can you genetically engineer a dog to make it bigger?
Question Date: 2016-08-31
Answer 1:

Yes - mating large dogs will make more large dogs, and mating two especially large dogs may concentrate the traits that make dogs large. By the way, timber wolves can weigh as much as 200 pounds - more than nearly any domestic dog.


Answer 2:

I don't know if you can genetically engineer one individual dog to start to grow bigger. But you could artificially select a dog breed and make it bigger. People have done this many times. If you constantly breed dogs and only let the largest of the puppies breed with each other, slowly, over many generations, the next generation of dogs will likely become bigger.



Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use