On a hot, humid day in Queensland myself, and my four-legged pampered pooches have retreated to the only room in the house with aircon! As it’s time for me to sit down and write my first well overdue, promised blog. So being a first blog, I think I need to start at the very beginning. The beginning of what though? My website “Our Story” page talks about my journey with the Rhodesian Ridgeback as a breed, so that is already covered. Let’s go all the way back to when humans first domesticated dogs.
Francis Crick Institute scientists, studied genomes from 72 ancient wolves, excavated throughout Europe, North America, and Siberia. This spanned 100,000 years and over 30,000 generations of the grey wolves. Resulting in the hypothesis that dogs, both modern and ancient dog breeds, are most similar to grey wolves from that period in history, however, this is still debated and contested.
Research in DNA supports the theory that the domestication of the ancient grey wolf/dog can be traced back to approximately 33,000 years ago, 10,000 years before agriculture and domestication of ruminants. It is believed that grey wolves/dogs were provided with scraps of food and shelter, in exchange for helping our hunter-gatherer ancestors both hunt and provide protection.
Co-evolution, supported by research concerning relationships between human and dogs, demonstrates the development of canine history has been shaped by humans that migrated and even traded their dogs. As domestication developed, dogs were common throughout the Northern Hemisphere and roughly separated into 5 different population types owing to this human migration. Traces of ancient breeds exist today in the geographical regions of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. Genetic traits of indigenous dogs can be found in breeds such as the Rhodesian Ridgeback, Chihuahua and Xoloitzcuintli.
At Predmosti in the Czech Republic, a burial site of a dog, from 32,000 years ago, found a mammoth bone carefully placed in the dog’s mouth. The mummified remains of the named Black dog of Tumat were found at a site in Russia over 12,450 years ago and in Ain Mallaha Natufian of Israel, 12 individuals were found buried, one holding the body of a puppy dated at least 12,000 years. Ancient civilisations believed dogs role was to accompany the deceased people into the other world or guard the other world.
Dogs were believed to possess almost godlike characteristics in Ancient Egypt. Purebred dogs were only allowed to be owned by Nobility, and these animals were treated like royalty, wore jewels, and were fed only the best diet. Following the death of a nobleman, their dogs were buried with them to provide protection from harm in the afterlife. This proves a bond that has been developing with humans since domestication.
Studies show that humans and dogs initially had a basic level of both social and communication skills that led both species ability to discern some emotional and verbal expressions. Dogs’ ability to use facial expressions has evolved as they have, and we now know that oxytocin levels rise in humans and their dogs when there is extended mutual eye contact. Oxytocin is produced during maternal bonding, and this likely supported our coevolution with our beloved dogs. I mean who can resist a cute puppy, or a gaze from a beloved senior dog?
The world in which we live, has over 400 distinct breeds of dogs, owing their evolution to humans initial, most rudimentary type of genetic engineering, via selectively breeding to suit our needs over tens of thousands of years, and that dogs likely owe their ancestry to the ancient grey wolves that once decided to offer their services in exchange for food and shelter.
I hope you have enjoyed my first blog, keep posted for future ones
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