• Question: how many types of cells do we have in common with dogs

    Asked by RachelH to David, Gemma, Juhi, Matt, Stéphane, Yinka on 8 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Stéphane Berneau

      Stéphane Berneau answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      Anatomically, dog and human have a lot of bones and organs in common. However, they are not developed in the same way. Humans don’t have tails for example.
      We cannot tell exactly how much types of cells we have in common.

      If you like Dogs, please find this nice video about how human manipulated dog morphological characteristics (and therefore their genes).

    • Photo: Gemma Chandratillake

      Gemma Chandratillake answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      I think we likely have most types of cells in common – we are both mammals afterall! I’m struggling to think of a cell type that dogs have that we don’t or vice versa…

      I’m not a vet but apparently, dogs don’t have an appendix so if there are specialised cell types in the appendix, I guess dogs don’t have them (need to read more on this!)

      (Humans can have tails though…)

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