from wolf to dog


The human/ canine relationship is thought to have begun between 40 and 60 000 years ago when man began to use wolves as a “tool” in hunting. It is thought that these would have been raised from cubs or be marginalised individuals who would be more inclined to form a mutually beneficial relationship (food, care and shelter in exchange for “work”/hunting). Both natural and artificial selection played their part in the diversion of the two species. Larson et al made a study of comparing the DNA of 700 modern dogs with that of the Newgrange series to suggest a dual-origin for the dog at each end of Eurasia, though as the eastern Asian population grew with time it replaced the European population so became the root of the modern dog. It should be noted that the modern dog does not descend directly from the modern wolf but from the east and west Eurasian wolves that are now extinct. We have to go back approximately 20 to 30 million years ago to find the common ancestor of the dog, the east and west Eurasian and the modern wolves, Cynodictis, from which the African hunting dog evolved down one branch of the evolution tree, and a second branch in which the Tomarctus developed (c. 6.83 million years ago). which is the common ancestor of both the modern wolf and the domestic dog.

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