Palaeontology

Dogs have lived with humans for 30,000 years

By T.K. Randall
May 22, 2015 ·  22 comments

Humans and dogs have been close for thousands of years. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 Randi Hausken The relationship we humans share with our canine companions is known to date back tens of thousands of years and has long proven a mutually beneficial arrangement for both species.

A recent new study involving the analysis of an ancient Taimyr wolf bone however may serve to shake up what we know of this age old partnership through the revelation that humans and dogs have been best of friends for far longer than anyone had realized.

The fossil bone, which was found during an expedition to Siberia, has been carbon-dated to around 35,000 years ago and is thought to belong to the first common ancestor of modern wolves and dogs."Our study provides direct evidence that a Siberian Husky you see walking down the street shares ancestry with a wolf that roamed northern Siberia 35,000 years ago," said Dr Pontus Skoglund.

The findings also challenge existing theories on how dogs originally became domesticated.

"One scenario is that wolves started following humans around and domesticated themselves," said study leader Dr Love Dalen of the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

"Another is that early humans simply caught wolf cubs and kept them as pets and this gradually led to these wild wolves being domesticated."

Source: BBC News | Comments (22)

Tags: Neanderthals, Humans, Dogs, Wolves