The dog was the first domesticated species in
human history. It is believed that the ancestors of dogs are the grey wolves,
and the domestication of grey wolves can be traced to tens of thousands of years
ago. In 2008, the discovery of dog remains excavated at Goyet Cave in Belgium
showed that the world’s first known dog lived about 31700 years ago;
interestingly, researchers found that the world’s first dog most resembled the Siberian
husky, while its size was larger than huskies. In 2010, the remains of a dog that
lived 33000 years ago were discovered Altai Mountains of southern Siberia,
which further updated the world record of “oldest dog”.
Check out what grey wolves look like!
It is not clear that how the grey wolf was
domesticated at the very beginning, but there are two major theories of the
domestication of dog available. The first theory is the self-domestication
theory. According to this theory, wolves with smaller flight distances were not
afraid of human beings. They approached human beings in the first place because
food leftovers and garbage within human settlements attracted them and provided
these wolves with promising food sources, which further made the wolves wanted
to stay with human beings. Among all the bold wolves approached human beings,
those who were aggressive were slaughtered and those who were friendly were
kept with humans and and continued breeding/passing their sociable and friendly
traits, the traits that we see in dogs nowadays. Their appearances became more
dog-like generation by generation as well. The other major theory says that human
beings domesticated wolves. Some evidence indicates that early human beings
adopted wolf pups in their early ages and raised them along with human babies. These
adoptees bred a new generation of wolf-like domesticate animals, and after
generations, these domesticate animals became more dog-like. Similar theories
suggested that human adopted wolves in the first place for food source and fur,
and the friendly individuals of these wolves were selectively kept as
companions and allowed to breed. After generations, they became more dog-like.
When it comes to the early relationships
between human beings and dogs, besides being used as food source and clothing source
when needed, dogs also helped improve the sanitation of human settlements by
eating food leftovers and gave early warnings of predators using their acute
senses of smell and hearing. However, the most important benefit from dog
domestication was dogs’ assistance in hunting activities. Early dogs used their
acute sense of smell to help human beings get stable food sources, and the
benefit of cooperative hunting is also considered to be a important reason for
domesticating wolves by many experts. Dogs benefited from early dog-human
relationships as well: living in human camps, they got safe environments, more
stable food sources, more chances to breed and so on.
See photos of dogs in hunting activities!
Sources
used:
Germonpré,
M., Sablin, M. V., Stevens, R. E., Hedges, R. M., Hofreiter, M., Stiller, M.,
& Després, V. R. (2009). Fossil dogs and wolves from Palaeolithic sites in
Belgium, the Ukraine and Russia: osteometry, ancient DNA and stable
isotopes. Journal Of Archaeological Science, 36(2),
473-490. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.033
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_domestic_dog
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27240370/#.U16z_q1dXxI
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130302-dog-domestic-evolution-science-wolf-wolves-human/
http://scienceblogs.com/thoughtfulanimal/2010/10/07/two-theories-of-dog-domestication/
Tacon,
P. C., & Pardoe, C. (2002). Dogs make us human. Nature Australia, 27(4), 52.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje5S4vVu8HbhylQn79Lxh5DQ5RfTtnpbA0wynhYLgsr29LACT9kRLznkkFvTWAGiCoPKBKEvXtWEfcC8GkNDwsO5peOlo8ih3z3q3iYpdLU-F0TGi1csJEUbyqEzyEKRxNluDpQNrQBMI/s660/Ares.jpg
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/031/f/b/a_beautiful_grey_wolf_by_picturebypali-d38gsr6.jpg
http://www.bullsandbeavers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/20060206_wolves.jpg
http://wolvesonceroamed.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/hunting-dog.jpg
http://mississippivet.ca/files/2013/08/hunting-dog1.jpg
http://704outdoors.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/527983_3097465533859_1337988724_n.jpg
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