Mary Rose dog male, not female
The smallest member of the crew on board the Mary Rose – a dog named Hatch – was a he and not a she as previously believed. Hatch was discovered in 1981 during an underwater excavation of the famous ship, and lacked a baculum or penis bone, so was thought for many years to be female. New research from an international team of researchers, including the University of Portsmouth, has found that Hatch was actually a young male dog, most closely related to modern Jack Russell terriers, with a brown coat. “We extracted DNA from one of the dog’s teeth to identify the breed of the dog, its gender and even the colour of its fur,” said Dr Garry Scarlett, associate head academic in the School of Biological Sciences. “This technique could now be applied to further museum specimens, meaning we could find out more about previously unknowable animals.” Recent developments in DNA analysis have even made it possible for researchers to discover that the dog was a carrier for the canine genetic disorder hyperuricosria, which causes the animal to produce urine with very high levels of uric acid. “We used PCR to analyse both mitochondrial and genomic SNPs, the genomic ones gave us phenotypic information,” Scarlett told Laboratory News. “We are also used STR analysis to determine most closely aligned modern breed and gender.” “This technique has revealed new information that is in direct contradiction to conclusions drawn using observation alone,” Scarlett added. “It has also shown that we can collect DNA samples without damaging the exhibit.”
Hatch with tooth. Credit: University of Portsmouth
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