Wolves descended from chihuahuas
Posted on 11/26/2025 6:17:00 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Most modern dog breeds have small amounts of wolf ancestry from long after dogs were domesticated, according to a new study.
The wolf DNA isn't left over from when dogs and wolves diverged; instead, it most likely came from interbreeding in the past few thousand years. That wolfish influence may be linked to certain characteristics, such as size and personality traits, in different dog breeds, researchers reported Nov. 24 in the journal PNAS.
"Dogs are our buddies, but apparently wolves have been a big part of shaping them into the companions we know and love today," study co-author Logan Kistler, curator of archaeobotany and archaeogenomics at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
Wolves and dogs genetically split more than 20,000 years ago. Since then, there has been some gene flow between dogs and wolves, thanks to their genetic compatibility. To measure the extent of intermixing and its effects on both animals, researchers studied the previously published genomes of nearly 2,700 dogs and wolves from the Late Pleistocene (the last ice age) to the present. This group included 146 ancient dogs and wolves, 1,872 modern dogs and about 300 "village dogs" that lived around humans but weren't pets.
At least 264 modern dog breeds have wolf ancestry passed on from mating that occurred an average of 900 dog generations ago, which equates to about 2,600 years ago — long after dogs became domesticated at least 20,000 years ago, the team found. The most wolfish dogs had up to 40% wolf ancestry in their genomes, but most had between zero and 5% wolf ancestry.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Well he sure is! He struts around like he is hawt sh_t.
LOL...Mine Too.
Ever since then that’s how we say it. It helps when spelling it.
I too really was a fan of Gary Larson. He always had the most humorous stuff I’d ever seen, but I can see why he might run out of ideas after awhile. Everybody always seemed to want more & more of his stuff as time went on.
Thanks. God go with your family and pets.
In the last scene when the sales guy and the boss come back to the studio - they secretely covered themselves with the turkey feathers and surprised the rest of the crew as they entered the door.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yKQOR8KDUQQ
The Far Side encyclopedias are very interesting, as it gives some insight to that aspect of his work...it sounded very high pressure to me. His work really resonated with me.
I keep thinking that someday I am going to scan all his cartoons into a metadata searchable database...I always seem to want some cartoon, but often cannot find it...:)
The Dogman cryptids that the Army genetically engineered at the Dulce facility to be super soldiers until some of them escaped and started breeding in the wild are pretty well aware of their size.
Not sure what percentage of wolf they are.
Lol, pretty cool that it was impromptu- makes it even funnier
I loved call of the wild when I was a boy.
And don’t forget Les’s pronunciation of, ‘Chai-Chai Rod-ree-Gayz’!
Our local news gal, decades ago, mispronounced the country of, ‘Tanzania’ as ‘Tan-Zan-E-Uh.’
We STILL laugh about that. But, we are easily amused. ;)
Oops! I see you already mentioned that. ;)
LOL...I also liked Chee Hua Hua for Chihuahua...
He was such a lovable dork.
Him and Johnny Fever made that show!!!!!
I laughed myself silly when he had them knock on his “door”...ROFL
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