Both scientists and laymen have long held on to the belief that dogs were descendants of gray wolves. A new study, however, indicates that previously held beliefs about the ancestor of modern day dogs might actually be a totally different animal. In fact, both dogs and wolves may have a common ancestor that died out thousands of years ago. Evidence of the existence of this long dead canid ancestor may be found in a recently conducted DNA analysis.
The recent study indicates that dogs, regardless of breed and location, are actually more closely related to each other than to modern grey wolves. While there is evidence of similar genetic traits between dogs and wolves, this may be the result of more recent breeding practices that occurred after humans domesticated the dog back before the agricultural age.
The study was published in the online journal PLOS Genetics. The study was also conducted with the aim of establishing and reconstructing the early evolutionary history of the modern dog.
Researchers isolated high quality genome sequences from variety of canids including three from grey wolves, two from modern dog breeds, including the Basenji from Africa and the dingo from Australia and one from the golden jackal. Moreover, researchers also included the genome sequence of a Boxer that was used in a previous study. To improve the accuracy of the results, scientists used genetic samples from wolves in three different parts of the world. The wolf DNA samples were gathered from China, Israel and Croatia.
The most popular origin story involving dogs, involve an early group of human farmers domesticating a pack of friendly wolves who hung around human settlements to take advantage of edible leftovers that humans threw away. Taking into account the new evidence found in the study, however, it seems the real account of dog domestication may be a bit different from what was previously believed.
Instead of domesticating early gray wolves, humans may have domesticated an early breed of dog that prowled the fringes of early agricultural settlements. The researchers from the University of Chicago may be faced with a new round of questions but studies on the real origins of "man's best friend" will continue well into the future.
