Answer 1:
I don't know of any studies that directly
compare the hearing of wild and domestic dogs. I
suspect the reason why there is so little research
into that is because most scientists assume that
their hearing is about the same.
Dogs evolved their amazing sense of hearing
because it helped them reproduce more
effectively. For example, better hearing might
have enabled a dog to hear predators coming at
greater distances, it might have allowed
them to find more prey to feed to their puppies,
or it might have let them hear new mates who were
so far away that other dogs couldn't hear them.
All of these things would let a wild dog with
better hearing produce more puppies.(Remember
that in evolution, reproduction is the only thing
that matters. Survival is only important
because it lets you reproduce more. A species
in which all the animals survive to old age but
never reproduce will go extinct.)
That's how wild dogs got their great hearing,
then humans came along and domesticated some of
those dogs. Humans have used selective breeding to
exaggerate different traits in different breeds of
dogs: Dachshunds forgetting into rat holes,
greyhounds for running fast, etc.
I've never heard of anyone breeding dogs to have
worse hearing, and I can't think of any
reproductive advantage to a domestic dog losing
its great sense of hearing. So, I suspect that
domestic dogs can probably hear just as well as
wild dogs. Excellent question!
Check out this
web-site for a diagram of a dog's ear:
dog's ear Good luck! Click Here to return to the search form.
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