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OFF THE SHELF

Slatington Library News

submitted by Louise Bechtel

The Wonderful World of Wildlife Reading program is back! The library’s summer reading program, sponsored by the Lehigh Gap Nature Center will return on June 22nd at 1:00 p.m. Children from preschool to 5th grade are invited to participate. The program will run each Wednesday through Aug. 10th. There will be stories and crafts all about the cute and cuddly in nature.

The Library is once again having their summer reading incentive program for all pre-school age children and students. It will start June 10th and end August 26th. Each child must read/or be read ten books, write down the titles and return the form to the library. A raffle ticket will be given for each 10 titles read. The more you read, the more raffle tickets you have in the drawing, which will take place August 26th. The library will give away 10 prizes. The books do not have to be library books. Forms will be available at the library in June.

The Book Club is currently reading “Virgin Earth” by Philippa Gregory. They will meet in person and virtually on June 6th, at 1:00pm to discuss the first half of the book. They will meet again, Tues., July 5th to discuss the rest of the book. It is a very long book. There are copies of the book available at the library. If you are interested in joining the book club, please contact the library.

The Library is looking to start a Teen Advisory Board. If you are a teen and wish to get involved, please call or stop in the library for more information.

Library hours are currently Mon., Wed. & Fri. 9am to 5pm, Tues. 9am to 3pm, Sat. 8am to 2:00pm. The library is closed Thursday and Sunday.

Any questions concerning this information please contact Louise Bechtel at the Library at (610) 767-6461.

Timothy Book, with ties to Northampton, earns Eagle Scout rank

Timothy Neal Book, son of Janet Muschlitz Book, a 1980 graduate of Northampton High School, and David E. Book, recently attained his Eagle Scout rank. Timothy is a member of Boy Scout Troop 338 in Baldwin, Pa., and the Laurel Highlands Council, Eagle Valley District in Pittsburgh. Timothy started his scouting career in First Grade as a Tiger.

On his trail to becoming an Eagle Scout, Timothy has earned 85 merit badges and 12 Eagle Palms. Timothy has also earned other awards over the course of his Scouting career including: Messenger of Peace, World Conservation Award, National Outdoor Achievement Award, International Spirit Award, and Keep America Beautiful Hometown USA Award. Timothy is also a member of the Order of the Arrow at the Brotherhood level.

He has served his Troop in the following leadership roles: Den Chief, Quartermaster, Assistant Patrol Leader, Senior Patrol Leader (serving as SPL for 1 ½ years as he was repeatedly elected to the position), and Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. He has recruited young boys to join the Boy Scouts of America program and is well-respected in his Troop. Timothy has earned all four religious awards in Scouts.

Timothy’s Eagle Project brought another opportunity to provide leadership. For his Eagle Project, Timothy built much needed storage bins for the Baldwin High School Color Guard / Band. Timothy is a member of the band, playing trombone, and is leader of the Low Brass Section.

Timothy is currently a Junior at Baldwin High School and plans to attend college to study Physics and Language Arts upon graduating high school in 2023.

An Eagle Scout ceremony was held for Timothy on Saturday, April 30 in Pittsburgh. Timothy is the 66th person to earn Eagle Scout rank from his troop.

Sweeping study of pet dogs shows breed does not Predict behavior

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01193-1

Dog enthusiasts have long assumed that a dog’s breed shapes its temperament. But a sweeping study comparing the behavior and ancestry of more than 18,000 dogs finds that although ancestry does affect behavior, breed has much less to do with a dog’s personality than is generally supposed.

“When you adopt a dog based on its breed, you’re getting a dog that looks a certain way,” says co-author Elinor Karlsson, a computational biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester. “But as far as behavior goes, it’s kind of luck of the draw.”

Form over function

That’s partly because breeds are something of a modern invention. Humans have been shaping how dogs look and behave since domestic dogs first evolved from wolves more than 10,000 years ago. But for most of that time, these efforts were focused on dogs’ working ability — how well they herded livestock, guarded against danger or pulled sledges, for example.

Breeds as we think of them today — distinctive canines such as beagles, pugs and Labradors — are a by-product of more recent evolutionary meddling. Starting around 200 years ago, dog enthusiasts in Victorian England began inventing breeds by actively selecting for canine traits that they found aesthetically pleasing.

This experimentation created today’s breeds. Contemporary purebred dogs are defined by their looks, but breed is also thought to influence temperament. The American Kennel Club, for instance, describes pugs as “mischievous” and border collies as “affectionate.”

Wanting to get a better sense of how breed influences behavior, Karlsson and her colleagues surveyed thousands of dog owners about their pets’ backgrounds and activities, ranging from whether they had a propensity to eat grass to how likely they were to chase toys. The researchers then sequenced the DNA of a subsection of the survey dogs to see whether ancestry could be linked to behavior.

The team found that some traits were more common in certain breeds. For example, compared with a random dog, German Shepherds were more easily directed; beagles, not so much. And the authors’ genetic studies revealed that mixed-breed dogs with a particular ancestry were more likely to act in specific ways. Mutts with St. Bernard ancestry, for instance, were more affectionate, whereas mutts descended from Chesapeake Bay retrievers had a penchant for wrecking doors.

But, on average, breed explained only around 9% of the variation in how a dog behaved, a number “much smaller than most people, including me, would have expected,” says Karlsson. Particularly low was the connection between breed and how likely a dog was to display aggressive behavior, which could have implications for how society treats “dangerous” dog breeds, says Evan MacLean, a comparative psychologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson who was not involved in the study.

“We talk about breeds like they’re categorically different,” he says. “But in reality, that’s not the case.”

Genetic analysis revealed 11 regions of the genome that are linked to specific behaviors. A tendency to howl, for example, was associated with a region near two genes whose human analogues are involved in speech. The most significant link was between a region of the genome that in humans is involved in cognitive performance — but in dogs increased the likelihood of getting stuck behind objects.

These genetic traits have been around for much longer than breeds have existed, says Kelsey Witt, a population geneticist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “At first glance, it seems surprising that breed isn’t a good predictor” of behavior, she says. “But when you think about how recent breeds are, it makes sense.”