Climate change may have partially contributed to how the evolution of dogs came about over time, a new research found.
Dogs are said to be natural inhabitants of North America. About 40 million years ago, the climate in the said region used to be warm and jungly. According to fossil analysis of species that exist during that time, dogs exhibited a body more similar to mongooses than how any other dogs appear today. The forelimbs of the fossils did not look like it was apt for running and thus sustain a flexible feature that most likely allowed them to grab any food it passed by. Those ancient dogs also appeared to have adapted well to that kind of setting.
A few million years passed and the global climate gradually changed. The surge of alterations included the significant cooling of North America, making it much drier than before and the vast lands soon turned into open grass fields. A group of researchers were made to think if this event in history actually shaped the evolution of dogs hence, set out on a study to investigate.
The said research studied the elbows and teeth of 32 dog species that live two million to 40 million years ago. The authors were able to discover that the changes that happened in the bone structure patterns of the fossils occurred at a time when the climate changes also transpired. "The elbow is a really good proxy for what carnivores are doing with their forelimbs, which tells their entire locomotion repertoire," said Christine Janis, study author and a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown University.
The teeth of the dog samples also signified the changes that happened during that time. The experts found that the teeth were of high durability, thus suggesting that the dogs fought for preys on hard floors of the savannah rather than on damp or icy forest grounds.
In the end, the researchers said that their study results could help predict the consequences of today's climate changes. The alterations in global climate and their effects on vegetation lands and habitats are critical indicators of how ecological and evolutionary outcomes may appear in the future. "Now we're looking into the future at anthropogenic changes," Janis closed.
Photo: Ritmó | Flickr
