This sentence has two problems.
1) The term "canine" can refer to members of the family Canidae (domestic dogs, wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and other dog-like mammals); or, more narrowly, to members of the sub-family Caninae; or, more narrowly, to members of the genus Canis (which includes dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals); or only to domestic dogs. So, what are the "modern canines" referred to here? I suspect they mean "domestic dogs."
2) Why "but?" Doesn't it follow that domestic dogs would be more-closely related to each other than to wolves, since (as this article posits) domestic dogs and wolves are two branches which split off from a common ancestor some time in the past?
Regards,
It is not written all that well.
It’s states:
“Researchers from the University of Chicago said that dogs are more closely related to each other than to wolves, regardless of geographic origin as they do not descend from a single line of wolves.”
The key being the comparison with regard to geographic area.
You asked, “Doesn’t it follow that domestic dogs would be more-closely related to each other than to wolves, since (as this article posits) domestic dogs and wolves are two branches which split off from a common ancestor some time in the past?”
Yes, you are right. But what the geographic analysis does is confirm that the dogs did not come from wolves directly because if so, they would have come from a certain line of wolves in a certain geographic region.
So, dogs would be closer to dogs than to wolves, but there would be more similarity to certain wolves of certain geographic areas than to wolves in other areas if dogs had come from wolves.
But these geographic based differences aren’t seen.
Words have meanings and grammar enables words to convey the author’s intended meaning. This seems lost on our thumb typing text-o-matic generation. Thank you for the discussion.
The Canary Islands are named for Canines, not canaries.
Yes. There arguments appears to be nonsensical.
It appears dogs derived from a wolf population 39,000 years ago and they then evolved along an isolated line with periodic outbreedings with wolf populations.
Ergo, they ARE domesticated wolves. To my knowledge, the only other wolf species in that time frame was the Dire Wolf, and clearly dogs are not related to them, but rather to the grey wolf.