As these domesticated wolves were breeding, over 1,s of years they became dogs as we know them today. Other early dog burial sites were discovered in many other places; the mummified Black dog of Tumat in Russia is thought to be 12, years old, and in Israel at the Ain Mallaha Natufian settlement there are 12 individuals buried, one with their hand resting on the body of a small puppy dating back at least 12, years.
From at least 6, years ago dogs were deified in many leading civilisations Anubis in Egypt, Xolotl for the Mayas, Cerberus for the Greeks. Their role was either to accompany the deceased people to the other world this stresses the guide role of dogs or to guard the other world. As dogs were evolving alongside humans, they are able to connect with us on a deeper level than many animals today.
Rabies has scared communities for almost 4, years, particularly when it was realised that you were certain to die if you were bitten by a rabid animal. People started to put in place rules and punishments aimed at preventing the spread of rabies via dogs.
If it bites a slave and causes his death he shall pay 15 shekels of silver. In the Bible, dogs had a bad reputation and were not well loved. In any case, it appears that the wolves who gave rise to dogs are now extinct since there aren't any groups of living wolves more closely related to dogs than any others.
Unlike the where and when, researchers generally agree on how and why wolves were domesticated. You may be surprised to hear that domestication happened because wolves came to humans and not the other way around. As sweet as it is to imagine a kindhearted hunter coming across an adorable pack of lonely wolf puppies and adopting them, this wasn't the case. It's also not likely that humans took in adult wolves to serve as skilled hunting companions.
Wolves are great hunters, but humans were successful hunters on their own, so they wouldn't have been looking for extra help. Plus, humans have a long history of trying to eradicate wolves rather than caring for them.
So, how did the domestication of wolves begin? It likely started when wolves learned that groups of hunter-gatherers were a fruitful food source. No, they didn't eat them, but they did enjoy the delicious scraps of food left around their encampments, especially when hunting was difficult.
From here, it's a story of the survival of the friendliest. Aggressive wolves would likely be chased off or killed by humans, while those who took a friendlier approach would be tolerated and maybe even welcomed.
As time went on, the chummier wolves would be the ones to survive and carry on the lineage eventually evolving into domesticated dogs. The domestication of wolves brought about both physical and psychological changes. Over time, the longish faces of wolves became rounder and friendlier in appearance.
Their coats grew splotchy, their ears went floppy, and their straight tails curved and wagged. Our engagement with wolves helped them become more adorable to us, which in turn strengthened our relationship with them.
As wolves were domesticated, they also learned how to understand humans and our emotions. That's something that bonds us so strongly with our pooches today. Dogs can cue into how we're feeling by detecting small gestures or changes in facial expression. Your pooch may even try to soften you up by flashing those irresistible puppy dog eyes.
Less than 10 percent comes from the Ancient Western dogs, which have since gone extinct. This is a bold story for Larson to endorse, not least because he himself has come down hard on other papers suggesting that cows, sheep, or other species were domesticated twice. Everything else is once. They concluded that dogs were domesticated somewhere in Europe or western Siberia, between 18, and 32, years ago.
By comparing the full genomes of 58 modern wolves and dogs, his team has shown that dogs in southern China are the most genetically diverse in the world. They must have originated there around 33, years ago, he says, before a subset of them migrated west 18, years later. Those Ancient Western dogs might have just been wolves, he says. Or perhaps they were an even earlier group of migrants from the east. It must have happened in southern East Asia.
Except, you totally can. Adam Boyko from Cornell University does, too: After studying the genes of village dogs—free-ranging mutts that live near human settlements—he argued for a single domestication in Central Asia, somewhere near India or Nepal. And clearly, Larson does as well. Larson adds that his gene-focused peers are ignoring one crucial line of evidence—bones. If dogs originated just once, there should be a neat gradient of fossils with the oldest ones at the center of domestication and the youngest ones far away from it.
Instead, archaeologists have found 15,year-old dog fossils in western Europe, 12,year-old ones in east Asia, and nothing older than 8, years in between.
A dual domestication makes more sense. But even Larson is hedging his bets. We lack the smoking gun. Why is this so hard? Of all the problems that scientists struggle with, why has the origin of dogs been such a bitch to solve? For starters, the timing is hard to pin down because no one knows exactly how fast dog genomes change.
That pace—the mutation rate—underpins a lot of genetic studies. It allows scientists to compare modern dogs and ask: How long ago must these lineages have diverged in order to build up this many differences in their genes?
The resulting ebb and flow of genes has turned their history into a muddy, turbid mess—the homogeneous soup that Larson envisages. Wolves provide no clarity.
Grey wolves used to live across the entire Northern Hemisphere, so they could have potentially been domesticated anywhere within that vast range although North America is certainly out. Follow Helen on Twitter. Image source, Getty Images. Image source, Amelie Scheu. DNA was obtained from the skull of an ancient dog. Image source, Timo Seregely.
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