Seeing is Judging

Environmental & Science Education
Biological Evolution
STEM
Edward Hessler

Darwin's Dogs is a citizen science project focused on the genetics of canine behavior.

Now they would like to know whether citizen scientists can identify the top three breeds that make up a given dog.  The research team at Darwin's Dogs will compare the visual assessments made by citizen scientist's with the mutt's genetic profile.

There is a purpose to this project. We have preconceptions about dogs. Some are thought to be brave or good with kids or have imperial complexes, German shepherds, Golden retrievers, and Jack Russell terriers respectively.  The idea is to begin teasing out how much of a dog's behavior is innate and how much is driven by treatment and training.

On April 16, Darwin's Dogs will launch MuttMix to collect data and do do this they are are inviting citizen scientists to participate in a survey.

This is a joint project of the Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in conjunction with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC).

For information and to sign up see MuttMix.