Editing Sighthound (section)

==History==
Sighthounds such as the Saluki/Sloughi type (both named after the [[Seleucid Empire]]) may have existed for at least 5,000 years, with the earliest presumed sighthound remains of a male with a shoulder height around 54&nbsp;cm, comparable to a Saluki, appearing in the excavations of [[Tell Brak]] dated approximately 4,000 years before present.<ref>Clutton-Brock, J., 1989. A dog and a donkey excavated at Tell Brak. ''Iraq'', 51, pp.217-224.</ref>  The earliest complete European description of a sighthound and its work, the Celtic ''vertragus''<ref>[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Bronzen_beeldje_hazewindhond_ForumHadriani_015501_RMO_Leiden.jpg Bronze statue beeldje_hazewindhond_ForumHadriani_015501_RMO_Leiden] via wikimedia.org</ref> from Roman Spain of the 2nd century C.E., comes from [[Arrian]]'s ''[[Cynegeticus]]''. 
A similar type, possibly a moderately sized male sighthound, with a height of 61–63&nbsp;cm, of approximately the same historic period, the ''Warmington Roman dog'' is described from a well-preserved skeleton found in England.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ar.24412 | doi=10.1002/ar.24412 | title=From head to hind: Elucidating function through contrasting morphometrics of ancient and modern pedigree dogs | date=2021 | last1=Schoenebeck | first1=Jeffrey J. | last2=Hamilton-Dyer | first2=Sheila | last3=Baxter | first3=Ian L. | last4=Schwarz | first4=Tobias | last5=Nussbaumer | first5=Marc | journal=The Anatomical Record | volume=304 | issue=1 | pages=63–77 | pmid=32445504 }}</ref>
Sighthound type "gracile" bones, dating from the 8th to 9th century CE, anatomically defined as those of a 70 cm (28 in) high "greyhound", were genetically compared with the modern Greyhound and other sighthounds and found to be almost identical with the modern Greyhound breed, with the exception of only four deletions and one substitution in the DNA sequences, which were interpreted as differences probably arising from 11 centuries of breeding of this type of sighthound.<ref> SVOBODOVÁ, H., BARTOŠ, M., NÝVLTOVÁ FIŠÁKOVÁ, M. and KOUŘIL, P., (2015). Genetic analysis of possibly the oldest greyhound remains within the territory of the Czech Republic as a proof of a local elite presence at Chotěbuz-Podobora hillfort in the 8th–9th century AD. SbNM B, 71, pp.17-24.</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Miriam Nyvltova Fisakova |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283696817 |title=Genetic analysis of possibly the oldest greyhound remains within the territory of the Czech Republic as a proof of a local elite presence at Hotěbuz-Podobora hillfort in the 8th–9th century AD |via=www.researchgate.net}}</ref>
Population genomic analysis proposes that true sighthounds originated independently from native dogs and were comprehensively admixed among breeds, supporting the multiple origins hypothesis of sighthounds.<ref>Li, Wu-Lue, et al. "Multiple origins and genomic basis of complex traits in sighthounds". ''Molecular Biology and Evolution'' (2023): msad158.</ref><ref>[https://watermark.silverchair.com/msad158.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW%20Ercy7Dm3ZL%209Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAtkwggLVBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggLGMIICwgIBADCCArsGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMdmN7K9tNATkRjtg-AgEQgIICjB5iSTimqxtMUK%20RJ-mABGimVTeQEZxFdhXNzlXsPqwoFZC msad158.pdf] at watermark.silverchair.com {{dead link|date=July 2024}}</ref>

Although today most sighthounds are kept primarily as [[pet]]s, some of them may have been bred for as many as thousands of years to detect movement of prey, then chase, capture, and kill it primarily by speed.  They thrive on physical activity. Some have mellow personalities, others are watchful or even hostile towards strangers, but the instinct to chase running animals remains strong.<ref name=fogle>{{cite book|last=Fogle|first=Bruce|author-link=Bruce Fogle|title=The Encyclopedia of the Dog|publisher=[[DK (publisher)|Dorling Kindersley]]|isbn=0-7513-0471-9|date=2000|orig-year=1995}}</ref>

Apart from [[coursing]] and [[hunting]], various dog sports are practiced with purebred sighthounds, and sometimes with [[lurcher]]s and [[longdog]]s. Such sports include [[Dog racing|racing]], [[lure coursing]], and other events.