Posted on 10/21/2015 2:37:41 PM PDT by blam
By Paul Rincon
20 October 2015
Dogs may have become man's best friend in Central Asia, according to the study
Today's dogs can trace their origins to Central Asia, according to one of the most comprehensive genetic surveys yet.
Dogs are the most diverse animal on the planet - a legacy of thousands of years of selective breeding by humans.
But they derive from wild wolves that were gradually tamed and inducted into human hunting groups - perhaps near Mongolia or Nepal.
The findings come from an analysis of DNA from thousands of pooches, and are published in PNAS journal.
Cornell University's Dr Adam Boyko and his colleagues studied 4,676 purebred dogs from recognised breeds, as well as 549 "village dogs" - free-ranging animals that live around human settlements.
They hitched themselves to us, which was a pretty good gamble as it turned out Dr Adam Boyko, Cornell University
This latter group are the least studied, yet represent a crucial piece in the picture of modern dog diversity.
"The fact that we looked at so many village dogs from so many different regions, we were able to narrow in on the patterns of diversity in these indigenous dogs," Dr Boyko told BBC News.
Dog domestication is the kind of event that could have taken place independently in different corners of the globe. But the DNA of modern pooches doesn't provide any support for this idea.
"We looked exclusively to see if there was evidence of multiple domestication events. And like every other group that's looked for that, we found no evidence of it," said Dr Boyko.
"It looks like there's a single origin, although there are clearly situations where there has been... a little bit of gene flow between wolves and dogs post-domestication."
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Hat tip to SunkenCiv for the article.
I have an English Springer Spaniel. Doesn’t look a bit Asian.
Lhasa Apso?
We had a lab one time that was from Mars. BTT
Dogs help you live longer and happier.
What angers me are the cave people that eat them.
Akitas and Shibas are pretty smart dogs.
[ Dogs help you live longer and happier.
What angers me are the cave people that eat them. ]
Or the savages that kill them because some inbred caravan raider over a thousand years kept getting foiled by them.
I was killing time today and watching a PBS story on the origin of dogs.
According to PBS the dog was a sudden mutation from a wolf.
Always good to see the scientists do not know what they are talking about.
While my Akita thinks she’s smart and cunning, she’s only a little brighter than our whippet/boxer, and she gets caught every time she’s being sneaky.
Thanks blam.
Belgian Shepherd Malinois
Wow. My dog can't even find his way through the dog door.
My dog doesn't do genealogy.
But where does the Dingo fit in?
This one in 2014
However dogs got here, I am so glad they did. I’d hate to live in a world without dogs.
http://www.shibamac.com/others/national-geographic-shiba-inu-is-most-wolflike/
Altho' small - male: 23" - they certainly have that wolf head/face and 'the look'.
I have had many breeds. Shiba is by far the best: most intelligent, loyal, stubborn (you DO have to establish who is Alpha - and re-establish daily. then both you and they will be happy.
He is very obedient, doesn't chew/destroy things (still has his first toy from 7 yrs ago - I have stuffed toys on floor level that I told him are MINE - and he has never touched them...
That said, when it comes to food, all bets are off - and he will tuck some away in case of famine - LOL
Yes, they ARE runners...but DO NOT CHASE. it's a game you will lose. When mine does get lose, I put a treat in his treat bowl and leave the door open. In his head, he thinks: "hmmm if I go home, there's a treat - not a scolding" - and he's back in under 5 minutes.
You just have to be smarter than your dog.
He obeys the usual sit/stay/wait/down/quiet/bring it here. drop it, etc commands. However, I have NOT, deliberately, taught him the 'fetch/catch and such 'trick' tricks. He's not a toy.
If he senses human danger, he will bark his head off. If it's danger from, say when we're in the woods and he picks up on coyotes (BIG in the east) he will quietly DRAG you out of the area.
When walking, he is "rein trained" - needs no verbal commands to not pull, to cross road, to sit and wait for vehicle to pass,to pace himself to my pace...
IOW, he is a thorough delight.
Look at that wolf face
' .
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