darwins-ark

is a Data Source.

A community science project collecting owner-reported behavioral and physical survey data alongside whole genome sequence data for pet dogs, and releasing the combined dataset openly.

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Homepage

darwins-ark

Repository

GitHub

Infores ID

Unknown

FAIRsharing ID

Unknown

Product Summary

Products

From this Resource
ID Name URL Category Format Description
darwins-ark.genotypes Darwin's Ark dog genotypes dryad.83bk3jb4r Product mixed A PLINK binary fileset of genotypes f...
darwins-ark.surveys Darwin's Ark survey data dryad.83bk3jb4r Product csv Owner-reported survey data covering b...
darwins-ark.website Darwin's Ark website darwinsark.org GraphicalInterface http The Darwin's Ark website, where owner...
From other Resources
ID Name URL Category Format Relation Description
canvas.imputed CanVAS imputed genotypes 19186944 Product mixed was derived from The imputed CanVAS genotype set as a ...
sniff.atlas-vcf Sniff Atlas sites VCF (v1.0.1) 20566358 Product vcf was derived from A sites-only VCF of the Sniff Atlas v...

Details

Darwin’s Ark is a community science project that pairs owner-reported survey data on dog behavior and physical traits with whole genome sequence data, and releases the combined dataset openly for reuse. It is run by researchers associated with UMass Chan Medical School and the Broad Institute.

The most recent open release covers genotypes from 3,277 dog whole genomes, distributed as a PLINK binary fileset keyed to the project’s survey data, with underlying sequencing deposited under BioProject PRJNA675863.

The associated analysis examined 151 genetic variants that had been marketed as predictors of canine behavior and found that none reliably predicted how an individual dog actually behaves, while variants associated with aesthetic traits that differentiate breeds, such as height, leg length, and ear shape, did show strong associations. Darwin’s Ark contributes mixed-breed genomes to the canine variant resources built downstream of it, including CanVAS and the Sniff Atlas.

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Created: August 12, 2026 | Last modified: August 12, 2026