Abstract
The process of animal domestication is a key evolutionary transition in human history, within which the control of wild populations is considered a crucial first step. Yet, phenotypic changes associated with animal captivity remain challenging to document. Here, we investigated the craniofacial changes in wild boar (Sus scrofa) associated with a lifetime of growth in captivity under conditions of controlled mobility and diet. Using three-dimensional landmark-based geometric morphometrics, we assessed cranial and mandibular size and shape differences between captive and wild-caught wild boar, their link with masticatory forces, and how these plastic changes relate to traits selected in domestic pigs. We observed shape divergence associated with greater masticatory forces in captive wild boar (e.g., wider zygomatic arches, more upright mandibular rami, and reduced gonial angle) corroborating the fundamental role of biomechanical loading and constructional constraints in the skull shape changes associated with captivity. Despite their resemblance with domestic traits, these localised plastic changes follow a different phenotypic trajectory, suggesting that they did not contribute to the setup of the craniofacial morphology of current domestic breeds. A parallel increase of masticatory force in captive wild boars and domestic pigs may explain this phenotypic convergence but needs to be further explored.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
The code used for this study is available at https://github.com/dneaux/captivity
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Acknowledgements
We are most grateful to the staff of the Réserve Zoologique de la Haute-Touche (Christophe Audureau, Jérémy Bernard, Christophe Jubert, Sandrine Laloux, Emmanuel Marechal, Régis Rabier, Patrick Roux, and Colin Vion) for their help during the setup of the experimental structures, the care they provided to the experimental specimens and during the data acquisition. Without their dedication and expertise, this research would not have been possible. We thank the CIRE plateform at the Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement in Nouzilly for the CT data acquisition (Hans Adriensen) and their technical team (Frédéric Elbout, Christian Moussu and Luc Perrigouard) for their support during the CT acquisition and the handling of animals. Further thanks go to the CT teams from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin (Guido Fritsch and Juliane Kühne) and from the University Hospital Halle/Saale (Silvio Brandt). We would like to thank Jill Cucchi for the copy editing of this manuscript. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their comments and advice on an earlier version of the manuscript. This research has been funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), through the Domexp project (ANR-13-JSH3-0003-01) the LabEx ANR-10-LABX-0003-BCDiv, in the programme ‘Investissements d’avenir’ ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02, the programme Emergence SU-19-3-EMRG-02, the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris) and the CNRS INEE institut (écologie et environnement).
Funding
This research has been funded by the ANR, through the Domexp project (ANR-13-JSH3-0003-01) the LabEx ANR-10-LABX-0003-BCDiv, in the programme ‘Investissements d’avenir’ ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02, the programme Emergence SU-19-3-EMRG-02, the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris) and the CNRS INEE institut (écologie et environnement).
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TC designed the research with AH and J-DV, YL, KO, BB and TC conducted the experimental fieldwork. TC, RS, AH, FL and GS collected the CT data, and AH collected the muscular data. FL, IB, CC and TC created the database of the project. DN carried out the GMM analyses and interpreted the data with TC, HH, VD and RC, DN led the manuscript with scientific and editorial input from TC, AH, VD, RS, AH, GS and J-DV. All authors gave final approval for publication.
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Neaux, D., Blanc, B., Ortiz, K. et al. How Changes in Functional Demands Associated with Captivity Affect the Skull Shape of a Wild Boar (Sus scrofa). Evol Biol 48, 27–40 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-020-09521-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-020-09521-x