Canine Evolution: Domestication of Dogs

by AlbinoRhino

My Research:  Canine Evolution
The topic of interest I identified for investigation is canine evolution (The Domestication of Dogs).  I am interested in finding out how “wild and vicious wolves, over time, became friendly pets”.

Notes on Canine Evolution

-some sources say dogs were the first to be domesticated some 14000-15000 years ago
– scientists think that what started domestication and evolution is that wolves were looking to explore new territories and find more food, that just so happened to be near early man.


-some wolves were ok to be near the humans long enough, and that kept happening until they got used to early man and were even fine to be touched

-early man realised that domestic (tame / non aggressive) wolves would be helpful for protection, guarding and even hunting

-they most likely tried to convince them to stay in camp 

-they began to start to hunt together.

– It did not take one moment to domesticate
– in fact it took thousands and thousands of years to get the cuddly dog we have today.

 

Take a look at these skulls.  Anatomy tells a lot about adaptations that occur…These photos of skulls came from the CARTA: Domestication: Transformation of Wolf to Dog.

Comparing dog, and cat skulls.Comparing dog, and wolf skulls.
Photo Credit: CARTA: Domestication: Transformation of Wolf to Dog: Fox Domestication; Craniofacial Femenization by Universtity of California TV. Published on Nov 24,2014.

Photo Credit: Abby Grace Drake, Skidmore College
Comments:Comments:

One thing I love about dogs is that they come in so many different shapes and sizes. There is so much diversity between all the breeds. Because of the change of the morphology of a puppies skull and an adult dogs scull Dr explained that the diversity in the shape and size of dogs is controlled by just a few genes.  In humans there are over 50. 40 genes controls the height of the dog. So 40 genes can be the difference between a 1.118 m dog and a 9.65 cm dog!

Sources:

DNA evidence is rewriting domestication origin stories by Science News. by Tina Hesman Saey, July 6, 2017.
<https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-evidence-rewriting-domestication-origin-stories>

How Accurate Is Alpha’s Theory of Dog Domestication? by Brian Handwerk for Smithsonian.com,  August 15, 2018
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-wolves-really-became-dogs-180970014/

Evolution of the Dog by PBS evolution Library, 2001.
<https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/5/l_015_02.html>

Opinion: We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us by Brian Hare, and Vanesa Woods for National Geographic News.
<https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130302-dog-domestic-evolution-science-wolf-wolves-human/>

Science dates old dogs with new tricks by Nature Publishing Group, February 5, 2015. 

https://phys.org/news/2015-02-science-dates-dogs.html

Videos:

Mankind The Story of All of Us: Domesticating the Dog 
by History. Published on Dec. 16, 2012.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCLQ_8I1paY>

CARTA: Domestication: Transformation of Wolf to Dog: Fox Domestication; Craniofacial Femenization by Universtity of California TV.  Published on Nov 24,2014. 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=VaS-teo33Zo>

Science dates old dogs with new tricks by Nature Publishing Group, February 5, 2015. 

https://phys.org/news/2015-02-science-dates-dogs.html