Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-d6ndz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-30T13:27:53.036Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Photopigments of dogs and foxes and their implications for canid vision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Gerald H. Jacobs ,
Jess F. Deegan II ,
Michael A. Crognale  and
John A. Fenwick
Gerald H. Jacobs
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Jess F. Deegan II
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Michael A. Crognale
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara
John A. Fenwick
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Keywords

Cone photopigmentsDogs (Canis familiaris)Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes)Island gray foxes (Urocyon littoralis)Arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus)DichromacyElectroretinogram flicker photometry

Information

Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 173 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

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
Ebrey, T.G. & Honig, B. (1977). New wavelength-dependent visual pigment nomograms. Vision Research 17, 147–151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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., Geist, T. & Jacobs, G.H. (1989). Color vision in the dog. Visual Neuroscience 3, 119–125.CrossRefGoogle 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
Peichl, L. (1991). Catecholaminergic amacrine cells in the dog and wolf retina. Visual Neuroscience 7, 575–587.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