[Sca-cooks] medieval dog recipes

[Terry Decker]

Most mammals, including dogs, have a baculum (os penis) or penis bone.  Of 
mammals, only a couple of species, man being the prominent one, do not 
commonly have a baculum.  Dr. Steven H. Ferguson has co-authored a paper on 
the idea that carnivores in high latitude snowy environments grow longer 
baculums as a reproductive survival strategy.  So the observation you 
mention may be have been genetic selection by environment rather than any 
real difference between Eskimo and European dogs.

Bear


> My memory evidently confused the fact that the explorers
> seem to have shot and subsequently dissected an eskimo dog
> ( finding a bone in it's "pizzle" which is apparently very
> lupine and not like European dogs) with the fact that the
> natives also raised them for meat.
>
> Capt Elias