Photopigments of dogs and foxes and their implications for canid vision | Visual Neuroscience | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Abstract

Electroretinogram (ERG) flicker photometry was used to examine the photopigment complements of representatives of four genera of Canid: domestic dog (Canis familiaris), Island gray fox (Urocyon littoralis), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus). These four genera share a common cone pigment complement; each has one cone pigment with peak sensitivity of about 555 nm and a second cone pigment with peak at 430–435 nm. These pigment measurements accord well with the conclusions of an earlier investigation of color vision in the dog, and this fact allows some predictions about color vision in the wild canids. An additional set of measurements place the peak of the dog rod pigment at about 508 nm.

References

Aguirre, G.P. & Rubin, L.F. (1975). The electroretinogram in dogs with inherited cone degeneration. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 14, 840–847.Google ScholarPubMed

Baylor, D.A., Nunn, B.J. & Schnapf, J.L. (1987). Spectral sensitivity of cones of the monkey Macaca fascicularis. Journal of Physiology 390, 145–160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Bekoff, M. (ed.) (1978). Coyotes: Biology, Behavior and Management. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar

Bowmaker, J.K., Astell, S., Hunt, D.M. & Mollon, J.D. (1991). Photosensitive and photostable pigments in the retinae of Old World monkeys. Journal of Experimental Biology 156, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Buehler, L.E. (1974). Wild Dogs of the World. London: Constable.Google Scholar

Coile, D.C., Pollitz, C.H. & Smith, J.C. (1989). Behavioral determination of critical flicker fusion in dogs. Physiology and Behavior 45, 1087–1092.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Corbet, G.B. & Hill, J.E. (1991). A World List of Mammalian Species. 3rd ed.Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Crognale, M., Jacobs, G.H. & Neitz, J. (1991). Flicker photometric ERG measurements of short-wavelength sensitive cones. Documenta Ophthalmologica Proceedings Series 10, 341–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Diesem, C. (1975). Carnivore sense organs and common integument. In Sisson and Grossman’s The Anatomy of Domestic Animals, 5th edition, ed. Getty, R., pp. 1741–1768. Philadelphia; Pennsylvania: W.B. Saunders.Google Scholar

Fox, M.W. (1971). Behavior of Wolves, Dogs, and Related Canids. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar

Fox, M.W. (ed.) (1975). The Wild Canids. New York: Van Nostrand.Google Scholar

Gilbert, D.A., Lehman, N.O., ’ Brien, S.J. & Wayne, R.K. (1990). Genetic fingerprinting reflects population differentiation in the California Channel Island fox. Nature 344, 764–767.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Horn, S.W. & Lehner, P.N. (1975). Scotopic sensitivity in coyotes (Canis latrans). Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 89, 1070–1076.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Hrachovina, V. & Schmidt, B. (1968). Electroretinogram fusion frequency and retinal illumination of some vertebrate eyes. In Advances in Electrophysiology and Pathology of the Visual System (6th. ISCERG Symposium), ed. Schmogen, E., pp. 279–282, Leipzig: Georg Thieme.Google Scholar

Jacobs, G.H. (1978). Spectral sensitivity and colour vision in ground-dwelling sciurids: Results from golden-mantled ground squirrels and comparisons for five species. Animal Behaviour 26, 409–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Jacobs, G.H. (1990 a). Variations in colour vision in non-human primates. In Inherited and Acquired Colour Vision Deficiencies: Fundamental Aspects and Clinical Studies, ed. Foster, D.H., pp. 199–214. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar

Jacobs, G.H. (1990 b). Evolution of mechanisms for color vision. In Perceiving, Measuring and Using Color, ed. Brill, M.H., SPIE Proceedings 1250, 287–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Jacobs, G.H. & Neitz, J. (1985). Spectral positioning of mammalian cone pigments. Journal of the Optical Society of America A 2, P23.Google Scholar

Jacobs, G.H. & Neitz, J. (1987). Inheritance of color vision in a New World monkey (Saimiri sciureus). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 84, 2545–2549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Koch, S.A. & Rubin, L.F. (1972). Distribution of cones in the retina of the normal dog. American Journal of Veterinary Research 33, 361–363.Google ScholarPubMed

Lehner, P.N. (1978). Coyote communication. In Coyotes: Biology Behavior and Management, ed. Bekoff, M., pp. 128–162. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar

Lloyd, H.G. (1980). The Red Fox. London: B. T. Balsford Ltd.Google Scholar

Mollon, J.D. (1989). "Tho she kneel’d in that place where they grew." The uses and origins of primate colour vision. Journal of Experimental Biology 146, 21–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Mullen, K.T. & Kingdom, F.A.A. (1991). Colour contrast in form perception. In The Perception of Colour, ed. Gouras, P., pp. 198–217. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.Google ScholarPubMed

Neitz, J. & Jacobs, G.H. (1984). Electroretinogram measurements of cone spectral sensitivity in dichromatic monkeys. Journal of the Optical Society of America A 1, 1175–1180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Neitz, J. & Jacobs, G.H. (1989). Spectral sensitivity of cones in an ungulate. Visual Neuroscience 2, 97–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Odom, J.V., Bromberg, N.M. & Dawson, W.W. (1983). Canine visual acuity: retinal and cortical field potentials evoked by pattern stimulation. American Journal of Physiology 245, R637–R641.Google ScholarPubMed

Osterholm, H. (1964). The significance of distance receptors in the feeding behavior of the fox, Vulpes vulpes L. Ada Zoologica Fennica 106, 3–31.Google Scholar

Parkes, J.H., Aguirre, G., Rockey, J.H. & Liebman, P.A. (1982). Progressive rod-cone degeneration in the dog: Characterization of the visual pigment. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 23, 674–678.Google ScholarPubMed

Parry, H.B. (1953). Degeneration of the dog retina. I. Structure and development of the retina of the normal dog. British Journal of Ophthalmology 37, 385–404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Parry, H.B., Tansley, K. & Thompson, L.C. (1953). The electroretinogram of the dog. Journal of Physiology 120, 28–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Schaeppi, U. & Liverani, F. (1979). Rod and cone components in the compound ERG of the beagle dog. Agents in Action 9, 294–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Scheibner, H. & Schmidt, B. (1969). Zum Begriff der spektralen visuellen Empfindlichkeit mit elektroretinographischen Ergebnissen am Hund. Albrecht von Craefes Archiv fuür klinische und experimentalle Ophthalmologie 177, 124–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Schmidt, B. (1968). Adaptives Verhalten und Spektralsensitivitat der Hundenetzhaut. Albrecht v. Graefes Arch. klin. exp. Ophthal. 176, 61–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Wayne, R.K., Benvenisti, R.E., Janczewski, D.N. & O’Brien, S.J. (1989). Molecular and biochemical evolution of the carnivora. In Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution, ed. Gittleman, J.L., pp. 465–494. London: Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Wells, M.C. & Lehner, P.N. (1978). The relative importance of the distance senses in coyote predatory behavior. Animal Behaviour 26, 251–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Wozencraft, W.C. (1989). Classification of the recent carnivora. In Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution, ed. Gittleman, J.L., pp. 569–593. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar

Wyman, M. & Donovan, E.F. (1965). Ocular fundus of the normal dog. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 147, 17–26.Google ScholarPubMed