Darwin’s Ark is a community science nonprofit. We catalyze groundbreaking research by engaging people and their pets in scientific discovery. We combine genetics research with user-provided information about pets to help scientists study traits, behavior, health, and ancestry in dogs and cats. By connecting the expertise of pet parents with leading research scientists, Darwin’s Ark accelerates scientific innovation that helps pets and humans live healthier, happier lives. Unlike for-profit genetic testing services, Darwin’s Ark is a nonprofit focused on advancing science for the public good by combining advanced, state-of-the-art genomic sequencing technology with our community scientists’ knowledge of their own pets. We conduct large, long-term research studies to understand how genetics influences the ways that pets behave and look. We also study how genetics influences health and longevity in pets, and how we can use that knowledge to better understand human health. Unlike commercial pet genetic testing services, we do not profit off of sequencing your pet’s DNA. We bring high-quality research standards to the pet science space, and in doing so, create a massive, comprehensive database for increasing the scale and scope at which pet research is conducted. We are actively enrolling dogs and cats in our research initiatives. Learn more about our projects below. Darwin’s Cats – Domestic cats have lived with humans for thousands of years, but due to a lack of feline scientific research, we know very little about cat genetics, evolution, or history. We’re asking community scientists to join us in our research to rapidly advance our understanding of the cat genome. Darwin’s Dogs – Our largest community science project, with over 44,000 dogs enrolled (and counting)! Contribute to our groundbreaking research by sharing your knowledge of your dog and, if you’d like, donating to sequence your dog’s DNA. Working Dogs – Our goal is to find genetic markers for the behavioral traits that make successful military and working dogs. Our Working Dogs project is in partnership with the International Working Dog Association and Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Cancer Project – Dogs are an excellent model for understanding human cancers because dog cancers often look and behave like human cancers. Additionally, dogs often receive the same cancer treatments as humans, making dogs valuable for studying how these therapies work across species. By studying cancer in dogs, we’re working to help both people and dogs survive cancer. Passive Sampling Project – In the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, we are working with researchers at Oregon State University to better understand the environmental effects of this chemical exposure incident. Participants place a silicone tag on their dog’s collar for one week and answer a few short surveys about their dog’s environment. Environmental exposure studies like this could help us understand how environmental exposures affect health outcomes in our pets. Community science is collaborative research between professional scientists and voluntary members of the general public. Even scientists are limited in their observations and perspectives; by including more people with diverse experiences and perspectives in our research, our findings will be relevant to more people (and their pets). Anyone and everyone can participate in community science. You know your pet best: there is no high-tech instrument or special sequencing experiment that could replace your expertise. The data acquired from our genetics research is most useful when complemented by observational data—that is, when pet parents like you tell us about your pet’s habits, personality, and physical traits. Darwin’s Ark compares these physical and behavioral traits with genetic data to uncover connections between the two datasets. To do this successfully, our expert geneticists need the help of expert pet parents like you. Our community scientists can complete online surveys about their pets’ behavior, health, environment, personality, and physical appearance. The benefit of our survey-based research is two-fold: it helps us understand the variation of certain characteristics among pets, and which characteristics may be associated with certain genetic variants. Darwin’s Ark learns about your pet’s DNA with an advanced technology called high-throughput whole genome sequencing. A genome is all of an organism’s DNA; this means that whole genome sequencing captures a rich picture of your pet’s DNA, including variation often missed by other methods. This detailed approach allows us to discover new genetic variants even in populations that have been previously poorly studied. Whole genome sequencing is a more comprehensive approach to studying genetics than genotyping, a method used by most commercial pet genetic testing services. Genotyping only looks at specific locations in the genome that are known to differ between individuals. Darwin’s Ark uses whole genome sequencing because it allows us to uncover entirely novel genetic variants associated with physical characteristics, behavior, or health. The depth of information provided by our genetics research offers a remarkable opportunity to improve the health of pets and their humans now and in the future. Darwin’s Dogs is the largest community science project of its kind, with over 44,000 dogs enrolled, millions of survey questions answered, and thousands of dogs’ genomes sequenced. Our research debunked the commonly held misconception that a dog’s breed strongly influences behavior, and is featured in an April 2022 paper that made the cover of Science1. Our scientists have also contributed to studies that demonstrate the transferability of discoveries in canine science to human health research. We’re excited to apply our successful research model—combining genetics research with user-provided information about pet characteristics—as we expand our research to include the beloved, yet understudied, cat. Humans and their pets have more in common than we think. Not only do pets share our home environments, but studying diseases that affect dogs and cats can enhance our understanding of similar conditions in humans. Previous research conducted by our scientists contributed to breakthroughs in connections between canine and human health, such as genetic causes of bone cancer and obsessive-compulsive disorder. While the primary goal of our research is to advance our understanding of dogs and cats, we hope that our discoveries in pet science continue to be transferable to human health and wellbeing. It’s easy! If you have a cat, you can join Darwin’s Cats. If you have a dog, you can join Darwin’s dogs. Once you create an account, you can create a profile for your pet. Once you create a profile, you’ll be invited to participate in our surveys. These surveys provide valuable data about pet behavior and physical traits. To take surveys, log in to your Laboratory and click the “Start Surveys” button on your pet’s profile. Log in to your Laboratory page to find opportunities to participate in our genetics research by sequencing your pet. A donation is required to participate and helps to cover the cost of sequencing and research analysis. Our work is made possible with the financial support of dog and cat lovers like you. Every donation, regardless of size, powers groundbreaking research that drives innovation in pet science. Donate today to help support the world’s largest dog and cat community science projects. Spreading the word about our research helps us reach more pets and their people. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn and share our posts with your friends and family. We’re interested in collaborating with researchers, veterinarians, and other pet professionals whose missions align with ours. Email us at team@darwinsark.org and tell us more about your research. Yes—but only in the survey portion of our research. We cannot ship DNA kits internationally at this time, but hope to in the future. We would still love to have your pet signed up with us so we can get to know them through the surveys! At this time, we are unable to import data from external studies into our internal databases, and unfortunately cannot accept data from studies outside of Darwin’s Ark. It is our goal to implement a digital system that allows community scientists, researchers, and other collaborators to share their data with us. The pet science world is a small one with many connections, and we love hearing about your involvement with other studies focused on pet genetics and well-being. We hope that in the future, our open science database can accommodate this type of collaborative research with outside organizations. Yes, but we love your spontaneous responses (and find that these initial responses tell us a lot about your pets). Often, the first answer is the best, and we ask that you only change your answers if you misunderstood a question and know you answered it incorrectly. Please skip any questions that are not possible or uncomfortable for you to answer. However, keep in mind that skipping survey questions can lead to incomplete survey response data for your pet, which can sometimes make it difficult to include your pet in some types of analyses. In addition, skipped survey questions can also sometimes limit the results we are able to return about your pet. We suggest providing your best guess or answer for every question when possible. Breed ancestry results for Darwin’s Dogs participants will be posted on your dog’s profile about 90-120 days after sample receipt at our sequencing laboratory. You can check the status of your dog’s DNA sample by clicking “DNA Kit Status” on your dog’s profile in your Laboratory page. Cat genetics is surprisingly uncharted territory of cat genetics, and there is more that we don’t know than we do. Therefore, Darwin’s Cats participants are contributing to foundational understanding of feline genetics, and we expect it will take some time to have results. One key factor will be sequencing sufficient cat genomes to make comparisons and draw conclusions. We plan to sequence at least 1,000 cat genomes before sharing our results, and we hope to reach this milestone some time in 2025. We have no doubt that our research–made possible by early contributors to our genetics research–will produce interesting and surprising results. But we do not yet know exactly what they will be or have a clear timeline. We appreciate your partnership and patience. No. It is extremely important that you use the DNA sequencing kit on the pet it is intended and activated for. If the sample and pet information don’t match, the genetic results will be assigned to the wrong pet in your profile. If the assigned pet is deceased or for some reason no longer lives with you, please contact us at support@DarwinsArk.org. No. We only accept DNA from saliva or fur samples collected according to our kit instructions. DNA sequencing is conducted in batches, which means that the turnaround time for your pet’s results depends on how many other community scientists have submitted their samples at the same time. We are just as eager as you are to learn more about your pet. Rest assured knowing that your contributions help drive meaningful research for the benefit of the entire pet community. Thank you for being a vital part of this exciting scientific journey. As of now, Darwin’s Dogs participants must log in to their Laboratory through our Darwin’s Dogs website. In the future, we plan to have a merged site where you can view your dogs’ and cats’ profiles in the same account. All of them, please! Our research is based on studying a very large number of pets, so we love hearing from people who own more than one. If your pet passed away or for some reason no longer lives with you, you can flag their profile as deceased. To mark your pet’s profile as deceased, log in to your Laboratory and click “Edit” on your pet’s profile. If it’s a cat, scroll to the question that asks if your cat is deceased, click “yes”, and save. If it is a dog, scroll to the bottom and click on the question “Is this dog deceased?” Log in to your Laboratory, then click the “Add a Pet” button in the section labeled “My Pets”. Breeds we can report in our analysis are below. Please note that we do not currently report coyote or wolf ancestry. As more dogs participate, our ancestry results will delve deeper into the history of your dog’s genetics. That means that in the future, you might receive updates with adjusted or additional breed contributions to your dog’s ancestry. We use the machine learning algorithm “ADMIXTURE,” which is described in the following publication: D.H. Alexander, J. Novembre, and K. Lange. Fast model-based estimation of ancestry in unrelated individuals. Genome Research, 19:1655–1664, 2009.Frequently Asked Questions
About Darwin’s Ark
What is Darwin’s Ark?
How is Darwin’s Ark different from pet genetic testing services?
What are Darwin’s Ark’s scientific research initiatives?
Our Science
What is community science?
How do community scientists contribute to groundbreaking discoveries at Darwin’s Ark?
How does Darwin’s Ark study pet behavior and physiology?
How does Darwin’s Ark study pet genetics?
How is Darwin’s Ark’s data used to catalyze scientific discoveries?
What impact does Darwin’s Ark’s research have on human health and wellbeing?
Get Involved with Darwin’s Ark
How do I become a community scientist with Darwin’s Ark?
How can my pet participate in Darwin’s Ark genetics research?
How can I financially support Darwin’s Ark research?
What are other ways I can help Darwin’s Ark?
I’m a researcher. How can I collaborate with Darwin’s Ark?
I’m not a US resident. Can I still participate?
My pet is a current participant in another study. Can I share that study’s data with you?
Troubleshooting and User Support
Surveys
Can I edit my answers to survey questions?
Can I skip a survey question?
DNA Sequencing
When can I expect results from my pet’s DNA sequencing kit?
I just received a DNA sequencing kit for one of my pets. Can I use it on another pet?
Can I send you other samples from my pet, such as blood?
Why does it take some time to receive my pet’s genomic sequencing results?
My Darwin’s Ark Account
Do I need separate accounts for my dog and cat?
I have more than one pet. Which one should I sign up?
My pet passed away. How do I update their profile?
How do I add a pet to my Laboratory?
Darwin’s Dogs
What dog breeds are in your reference panel?
What algorithm do you use to analyze my dog’s breed ancestry?