Evolution and Dog Breeding

Evolution and Dog Breeding

  • Submitted By: tazgirl7778
  • Date Submitted: 12/01/2008 11:33 AM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 731
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 683

Over 14,000 years ago, wolves began to not only shed thier thick furm but also thier aggresive behavior towards humans, and evolved into what we know today as the domesticated dog. The earlist fossil evidence that we have of this genetic transition was found in the Middle East, specifically Isreal, dating back almost 12,000 years. A man's skeleton was found buried next to a skelelton of a small pup. While it is unkown whether it was truly a canine or wolf, it is clear that the domestication of the wolf was already taking place at this point.While the transition from wolf to dog can only be speculated about it is clear that humans did play a factor in the process.
The question continiously faced by researchers was who is the dog's ancestor? Scientists only speculated that it is either the wolf, coyote, or jackal, but there was never any testing or research done until 1997. A team of scientists led by Robert Wayne began conducting experiments to finally settle the matter. Blood, tissue, and hair was collected from 140 dogs of 67 breeds and 162 wolves from North America, Arabia, and Asia. The mitochondrial DNA was extracted from these samples and compared. The results of this test showed that wolves and dogs only differed by 1% of mitochondrial DNA, leading the research team to conclude that dogs are decendants of wolves.
Wolves however, did not evolve on thier own, humans held a significant role in the process. There is much speculation as to how exactly the domestication of the wolf occurred but early on humans took to domesticating wolves for various reasons. One of the largest was to gain a foothold in hunting for food. While there were opportunities to hunt and gather food without the aid of a companion, the use of an animal was seen as a more efficient means to do it. With trianed wolves the hunter could finally capture other animals that were too fast or evasive to catch before. Many experts agree that an early type of bloodhound was used to find animals...

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