The Secret Origin of Dogs: Lupine to Canine
What does this dalmatian have in common with a wolf?…
Many theories suggest that dogs are genetically descended from wolves, although the characteristics exhibited by modern dogs are anything but “wolf-like”. To find the origins of the domestic dog’s many endearing characteristics, we must look back about 50,000 years – about the time that dogs and wolves split genetically.
Generally it is believed that either friendly wolves adopted humans, or friendly humans adopted wolves. Either way, both viewpoints argue that dogs developed their ability to understand and bond with humans so both parties could hunt more easily. A group of ten wolves will consume about a deer a day, while humans need far less food in the food:human ratio. Some articles also pinpoint wolves as the examples from which humans learned how to herd large groups of herbivores, citing Meriwether Lewis’ observation of still-wild wolves herding buffalo on the american prairie at the beginning of the 19th century. Wolves had long “herded” bison, culling the slower animals, but humans hunted and killed more than they could eat, leaving the carcasses for the wolves. This waste, some argue, is what brought wolves closer to humans.
From that point, most research supports the rapid evolution of friendly wolves into dogs by a process called “neoteny” or “paedomorphism“, which essentially means that dogs have characteristics similar to young wolves. The dog never develops its full “wolfishness” remaining cuter and cuddlier than a fully developed wolf. It is also the basis for our common classification of different dog types, like herding dogs, sighthounds, scenthounds, or bulldogs. Different dogs have been bred for different purposes, and this is evident in the wide variety of characteristics that define breeds. For example, a dalmatian, bred mainly as a carriage dog, is also good as a guard dog or hunter.
Domestic dogs are attuned to human body language and signals. Some dogs will even react to just the movement of their owner’s eye. This is not a characteristic that is displayed by wolves, even ones that are around humans frequently.
So what do you think, did we adopt dogs, or did they adopt us? Leave a comment below, or post your favourite picture of your dog on my Google+ or facebook
