Page 10 - (DK) The Dog Encyclopedia

ALL ABOUT DOGS | EVOLUTION OF THE DOG

Evolution of the dog

There are an estimated 500 million domestic dogs worldwide, and all of them are related. At the
base of their evolutionary tree stands the gray wolf, from which every type and breed of dog has
descended. As geneticists have discovered, in terms of DNA, the difference between wolf and
dog is infinitesimal. While natural selection has produced some of the changes that make one
type of dog different from another, the effect of human influence has been far greater.
It could be said that of the hundreds of modern dogs known today, all of them are man-made.

DAWN OF THE DOG
The history of the dog, and its transformation
from wolf to domestic companion, goes back
deep in prehistory, to the settlements of early
hunter-gatherer peoples. In these primitive
communities, wolves would scavenge among
the litter around the camp site and were a
useful source of hides and meat. The wolves
might also, inadvertently, raise the alarm
should an intruder or outsider approach the
camp. Just why people first brought wolves
into the domestic circle can perhaps be partly
explained by the fact that humans in general
seem programmed to adopt animals, either as
playmates or status symbols. Possibly
a small furry wolf cub appealed to our
ancestors as much as it would to anyone
today. Being social animals, wolves that
became campside hangers-on may have
readily made the transition between bonding that a tame wolf with a sharp nose and a Working together
Wolves live in packs cooperating with one another to hunt
with their pack and bonding with humans, strong killing instinct would be an asset as a and rear their young. This pack lifestyle made it relatively
particularly if there were advantages in terms hunting companion, the human easy for early humans to domesticate them. Instead of
bonding with other wolves, selected wolf cubs happily
of food and shelter. and dog partnership was born. If, as adapted to living with a group of people.
As hunters themselves, early people would seems likely, the most promising animals were
have been familiar with the behavior of picked out for such use, this would recently the earliest of these remains was
wolves and appreciative of their persistence also have been the very beginning of a dated at approximately 14,000 years old,
and skill when working as a team to track and selection process for desirable traits that but the results of research into a fossilized
bring down prey. Once tribespeople realized still continues among dog breeders today. canine skull found in Siberia, published
The domestication of wolves is not likely to in 2011, suggest that dogs were already
have occurred as an isolated incident, but domesticated as long as 30,000 years ago.
repeatedly at different times and in widely Whenever and wherever it happened,
separated regions. Archeological evidence of as wolves were domesticated, both their
dogs buried alongside humans has turned up appearance and temperament began to
in areas as far apart as the Middle East change. New types of canid emerged,
(thought to be possibly one of the original and their diversity was increased by
sites of domestication), China, Germany, crossbreeding between different dog
Scandinavia, and North America. Until populations. Depending on availability
of food and climatic conditions, some
hunter-gatherer tribes were isolated for
Archeological evidence
Evidence, such as these 12,000-year-old skeletal generations, but others were migratory,
remains of a human and a dog (top right) found which meant that the dogs following at their
in Israel, suggests that dogs may have been among
the first animals to be domesticated. heels met and mated with others outside

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