Origin of Dog Domestication: How Dogs Evolved to Become Man’s Best Friend

Domestication of Dogs Humans know dogs as a sweet and loving animal that wants to be loved, or also a man’s best friend, but until they were domesticated, they weren’t always like that. Even though many people think that the dogs were domesticated from wolves, not many people truly knows what kind of wolf that the dogs domesticated from. Researchers think that the gray wolf is the primary target of the domestication of dogs. The scientists believe that the dog comes from the gray wolf and the dogs have similar DNA in their body. It took a long time to domesticate the dog, and it didn’t just happen overnight.

Many forms of dog food are meat based, though, similar to the carnivorous diet of the gray wolf. Beyond commercial store-bought food, domesticated dogs do, however, form natural instincts that tend to have them go after smaller prey at times. Communicative patterns were also handed down from gray wolves to dogs, as behaviors dogs have inherited from wolves include "a complex communication system ranging from barks and whines to growls and howls" (Basic). Dogs commonly display barking to show a variety of emotions and barking i... ... middle of paper ... ...of wolves, and have evolved from the gray wolf species specifically. This evolution began about 10,000 years ago when the first dogs became domesticated.

Why did we make wolves into our buddies? Why not chimps or some other kind of primate? The answer lies in a few different reasons. Our old pals, even going back to Canis lupus, the gray wolf (the original ancestor of most modern dogs), have human-like qualities. Wolves are clever hunters and gatherers, especially the gray wolf.

Over generations, natural selections would favor tameness and facilitate its spread through the scavenger wolf population. This then gave rise to dogs. Whether dogs arose ... ... middle of paper ... ... Their results suggest that a few SNPs of dominant effect (2 to 6 in general) may account for large amounts of morphological differences in dog breeds (70%). This suggest that the evolution of dogs from wolves may be the result of a few very significant point mutations that swept across the population because they produced the traits desirable to humans. In summary, while the video provides two possible and seemingly logical models for the evolution of dogs, it fails to account for the genetic basis of selection and other possible mechanisms of evolution.

It would be difficult to provide provisions for such an animal and if one were unsuccessful, they befall a risk of becoming their pet wolf’s next meal. In present day, people adopt canines for numerous reasons. The most common reported reason for acquiring a canine is for companionship, followed by promotion of exercise, proceeded by protection, and finally for breeding or showing (Jagoe & Serpell, 1996). A study performed by Andrew Jagoe and James Serpell (1996) revealed that dogs acqui... ... middle of paper ... ...ell, V. (2008). Inside animal minds.

If other animals, like silver foxes, domesticate similarly to the way a dog evolves then why were dogs domesticated rather than a different species? The topic of dog domestication poses many unanswered questions. When and where did wolves first interact with humans? How did these two different species interact and why? Even with the species barrier, humans and wolves have a lot in common.

The original species domesticated at the time, was the gray wolf, or Canis lupus. Dog domestication began for a myriad of reasons, protection, food, fur, and to act as a beast of burden. Even today, domestication of dogs continues in numerous ways in order to create a 'better' companion. Originally, some authors wrote that dogs were descended from a species of wild dog, now extinct, that was distinct from wolves; this has since been disproved. The earliest carnivorous fossils, that can be linked to some variation of wolf or fox, are the Miacids that lived during the Eocene period, approximately 38 to 56 million years ago.

[Reveal topic & relate to audience] Now, you may think that situation is a bit farfetched, especially in this day & age, but it's happening to dogs around the world. What I'm talking about is breed specific legislation (or BSL) which targets certain dog breeds considered dangerous and makes ownership of these dogs illegal. As more and more people share their lives with dogs, we need to be knowledgeable about the effects dogs can have on our communities. III. [Establish credibility] As a life-long dog lover, I have run into BSL many times: from apartments with dog size limitations to cities that outright ban certain breeds.

Throughout the history of evolution there have been many different methods and ideologies that have affected the gene pools and phenotypes of species, one of those being "Artificial Selection". Artificial Selection is when humans breed animals of the same species together to create a specific overall trait. (Wikipedia, Learner.org, 2010) A great example of artificial selection is the history of dog breeding. Throughout history humans have bred dogs to further develop more ideal physical and behavioral characteristics, and through it we achieved this wide range of different domesticated dog breeds that are very different from their ancestors, both physically and behavioral. There are many theories obtaining to how dog breeding began.

These wolves were thought to have been domesticated by european hunter-gatherers about 180,000 years ago. This prediction was made based off of how mitochondrial DNA of the 10 ancient “wolf like” animals and 8 “dog like” animals and comparing them. The new genetic data can not prove this. Only an analysis using the nuclei can prove it infedently but the data is persuasive. Not only were the very close but there is also the fact that the wolves are know to take advantage of left behind carcesses.