Have you ever looked at your four-legged friend and wondered: where did you come from?
It turns out a new study out of the University of California, Los Angeles just might have the answer: the Middle East.
A research team studied wolf and dog genomes around the world and discovered the genomes were most similar in those animals within the Middle East, leading the researchers to believe wolves were first domesticated there some 15,000 years ago, then slowly evolving into the dogs we know and love today — with some human help.
This research — just published in the journal Nature — offers a logical explanation of how wild wolves were likely transformed from man-eating carnivores into man’s best friend. These scientists believes certain wolf packs probably began following human hunter-gatherers, feasting on wounded prey or leftover carcasses.
At some point, one group of wolves, likely smaller and less threatening than most, developed a dependency on these human hunters, and may in return have provided a warning system — a really early precursor to today’s guard dogs.
Eventually, hunters probably bred those smaller, less vicious wolves, creating the world’s first dogs. Amazing!
“I think a long history such as that would explain how a large carnivore, which can eat you, eventually became stably incorporated in human society,” Dr. Robert K. Wayne, one of the lead study researchers, told The New York Times.
The Times also pointed out that other dog genetic experts believe dog domestication and human settlement likely occurred around the same time, some 15,000 years ago. Dogs might have been the first major item of inherited wealth and been the security tool these early humans needed while setting up their first permanent settlements.
Who knew the bonds between us and our pooches stretched back so far. It’s pretty amazing that man’s best friend was early man’s best friend, too.
Photo courtesy of the author.