วันจันทร์ที่ 25 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2552

Physical characteristics

Coat

The coats of domestic dogs are either "double", made up of a coarse topcoat and a soft undercoat, like a wolf, or "single", with the topcoat only. Dogs with double coats tend to originate in colder climates.

Domestic dogs often display the remnants of countershading, a common natural camouflage pattern. The general theory of countershading is that an animal that is lit from above will appear lighter on its upper half and darker on its lower half, where it will usually be in its own shade. This is a pattern that predators can learn to watch for. A countershaded animal will have dark coloring on its upper surfaces and light coloring below, which reduces its general visibility. Thus many breeds will have an occasional "blaze", stripe, or "star" of white fur on their chest or underside.

Tail
There are many different shapes for dog tails: straight, straight up, sickle, curled, or cork-screw. In some breeds, the tail is traditionally docked to avoid injuries (especially for hunting dogs). In some breeds, puppies can be born with a short tail or no tail at all. This occurs more frequently in those breeds that are frequently docked and thus have no breed standard regarding the tail.

ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:

แสดงความคิดเห็น