Cai Kunheng

WR 39C
Dr. Lynda Haas
July 19, 2015
The Coevolution Between Human and Dog
Introduction:
The domestic dog is far more variable in size, shape and behavior than any other living
mammal, according to James Serpell, professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Veterinary Medicine and editor of "The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour, and
Interactions With People" (Cambridge University Press, 1995). Serpell describes dogs are the
most adopted mammal among human society, and are the one of undisputable life mates of
humans. However, what factor or mechanism that helped to build this relationship from the past?
The answer should be The Coevolution. From the beginning of human history, the Upper
Paleolithic, our ancestors and wolves have found each other a good company, and have started
living together. In the beginning of this relationship, which wolves provided guardianship and
humans provided shelter and food. Humans have gradually learned how to domesticate wolves,
but the relationship did not end up by simply owner and property; humans and tamed wolves
became best partner in many fields, and started to impact each other, which turned to the
coevolution.
However, why wolves? Why not other species? The underlying trigger here was wolves
were intelligent enough to adopt simple cooperation, and this gifted talent enabled them to be
tamed gradually, and it is so called The Canine Cooperation Hypothesis. Except the foundation
factor, wolves were even able to evolve with human. Scientists have found that both humans and

dogs underwent similar changes in genes responsible for digestion and hormone secretion, which
indicated that both dogs and humans had the experience of adopting the environment together in
a similar physiological way.
Conclusively, wolves were intelligent, tamable, and less fear to humans, which enabled
them to start living and generating strong bonding with human ancestors. Within the symbiosis
process in the past hundreds thousand years, humans and dogs, the evolved wolves, have shared
a similar physiological coevolution. Living together not only ensure the food availability, but
also bring both species the best fit into the changing environment. Therefore, this strong and
stable symbiosis will last for another long period in future human history. However, there are
currently many homeless dogs do not get enough care by human society; the dog welfare isnt
sophisticated enough to cover the situation, and the worse result has yet to come, the homeless
dog overpopulation. It is understandable that people prefer to choose pure or exotic breeds, but
the appearance isnt the whole beauty. Homeless dogs deserve another chance, and we should
file more claims and activities to attract the societys attention about the homeless dogs
adaptation. In addition, adaptation can only offer limited help towards to the tremendous
foundation of homeless dogs, neutering and spaying are suppose to be the ultimate approach that
help reducing the overpopulation.

The Historical Symbiosis - From Early Upper Paleolithic and The Myth
Myriam Boudai-Maligne, an anthropologist from the French National Center for
Scientific Research, recently published research about the symbiosis between humans and dogs
in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Her evidence comes from both fossil records and
biometric data, which reveals that the domestication of dogs started no later than the Upper

Paleolithic epoch. Boudadi-Maligne states, A combination of biometric and morphological data

provides a reliable basis for critiquing a series of recent publications purportedly demonstrating
the presence of dogs alongside humans during the Early Upper Paleolithic. As another evidence,
here is the picture of an old man and a young pup were buried together; the mans left hand was
cradling the dog.

(Archaeologists have also

discovered remains of a burial site at a Natufian village called Ain Mallaha)

However, the exact time of the start point of the dog domestication remains a mystery.
The timing of wolf domestication remains a subject of intense debate, especially as recent
genetic, morphological and radiometric analyses of relevant skeletal material apparently
demonstrate the presence of canids on Eurasian Early Upper Palaeolithic sites to be more
widespread than previously envisaged (80). We surely have decent and precise technology to
identify the bones age and DNA residues component from both fossil records and frozen tissues
(such as the revealed mammoth body from Siberian), but the critical line is whether we can find
valuable evidences which are supportive enough, just as Boudadi-Maligne states The
polymorphic character of C. lupus brought to light in our morphometric analyses of wild
Eurasian wolf populations once again underscores the necessity of employing a robust
database(88). More fossils have been revealed in recent years during the acceleration of
urbanization and disafforestation, but the exactly start point of dog domestication still remains a
myth.
Despite the difficulties of consummating both fossil and genetic database, the history of
dog domestication is also accessible in literature and scientific paper.
Irvine Leslie, a social psychologist who mainly majors in areas include the self, the
emotions, gender, and human-animal interaction, and also the author of the sociology book: If
You Tame Me: Understanding Our Connections with Animals (2004, Temple University Press).
Irvine presents the great transformation of humans from hunter to farmer at pre-literate epoch.
When our first generation of intelligent homo-sapiens ancestors were smart enough to sharp their
stone spears to hunt, and started to respect their prey animals, they start to understand the
differences between animals and humans. However, since they could not explain the differences,
they owed these mysteries to the unpredictable Mother Nature, and started to reverse feed

nature by sacrifice or worshipping animals at certain days like Irvine describes, They were
subjected and worshipped, bred and sacrificed (35). Alongside with farther human evolution,
our ancestors turned from hunters to farmers, and this step was one of the milestone. It is
impossible to overestimate the importance of mankind's change from hunter-gatherer to
domesticator of plants and animals (46). In addition, the relationship between humans and
animals have also changed, humans were no longer respect the nature and animals as much as
before since they started to reveal their dominations. As results, farmers started to gather all
different sources and learn to store them; they also start to conquer on land by separating out
farms, eliminating useless crops and animals such s rodents and birds. As Irvine describes
here, In contrast, the transition to farming required both an intimacy with the natural world and
a conquering attitude toward it (36). This transformation had truly changed the whole planet
abiotic and biotic; it had also introduced wolves into human life.
As humans became a dominant species, other species which got along with humans were
promoted to pets or livestock. Wolves are the most successful species that not only earned
humans trust, but also co-evolved with humans during the last 12,000 years. Archaeological
evidence has long placed the origins of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) just prior to the
beginning of the Holocene Epoch, some 12,000-15,000 years ago, according to Morey, Darcy F,
the author of Dogs: Domestication and the Development of a Social Bond.
Both fossil records and literature investigation provide the significance that wolves had
brought to human from the beginning of human history. They were not only domesticated, but
also became reliable and lovely life mate of humans. The truth of this valuable, long term, and
trust worthy relationship between humans and dogs shall lead us to think differently about dogs
and how we treat them.

From Guardians to Life Partner, From Cooperation to Coevolution

Temple Grandin, a famous animal expert, the inventor of hug box which helps to calm
autism patients, a best-selling author, and also one of the one hundred most influential people in
the world in the "Heroes" category by Time 100. Grandin has her own idea towards to the origin
of dog domestication in the book Time: The Animal Mind. Humans started preferring wolves
that were especially good at guarding the settlement or going on hunting parties with them. They
would have started dogs down the path of becoming specialized for work (64). Grandin found
out our ancestors especially liked training wolves, and this is probably because after several
generations of observations and experiments, humans have found the wolf was the easiest
tamable specie. Standing in wolves shoes, the less fearful wolves were more likely to be adopted
by humans, so they were capable to survive better interspecific to pass down this tameness
gene.
Furthermore, the establisher of Clever Dog Lab and the Wolf Science Center, also one of
the most famous zoologist, Range Friederike, has observed the interaction is the key factor for
dog domestication. Hare and Tomasello (2005) proposed that selection for a tamer temperament
and for reduced fear and aggression explains the higher success of dogs in cooperative and
communicative interactions with humans in comparison to wolves (2). Therefore, the more
interactive and less fearful dogs outperformed wolves and successfully settled with humans. This
inherent talent not only enabled wolves standing out from other livestock, but also promoted
them from the guardian to a higher social status within human society. Tamable and less fearful
are the two underlying factors that accelerated the transformation of cooperation to coevolution.

The Canine Co-operation Hypothesis

Generally speaking, not every species is trainable; it is necessary to introduce the famous
Canine-cooperation hypothesis by Range Friederike the zoologist. This hypothesis believes the
wolf-wolf cooperation could be the basis for wolf-human symbiosis. In order to prove her idea,
she designed an experiment that asked two sets of dogs and wolves, both sets of animals would
be able to watch how humans open a box with meat inside, and try to mimic humans operations
to open the box with conspecific cooperation. She surprisingly found out that When
investigating attentiveness toward human and conspecific partners using different paradigms, we
found that the wolves were at least as attentive as the dogs to their social partners and their
actions (12). Ranges experiment proves the possibility of the mutual wolf-wolf cooperation.
Therefore, she generates the idea of the Canine-cooperation hypothesis, which can be
explained as since wolves already are tolerant, attentive and cooperative, the relationship of
wolves to their pack mates could have provided the basis for today's human-dog relationship
(13). Wolves are intelligent enough to cooperate to achieve a fairly difficult task, and their
intelligence and gifted teamwork nature enabled them to be involved in human society
furthermore.

(How domestication turns Wolf-Wolf Cooperation into Dog-Human Cooperation. Picutre from Range Friederike 2015)

Based on the wolf genuine internal co-operations, humans were able to start train them,
and picked up some less fear ones to breed more offspring. Less fearful is a significantly
outstanding feature that made dogs the top successful domestication specie, and also endowed
the possibility to humans to train them fast and smooth. According to Dr. Yan Li, a genetic
biologist who hosts a laboratory at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming,
China, recently he has found that Domestication of the dog from the wolf was promoted by
enhanced Excitatory Synaptic Plasticity (3115). The level of synaptic plasticity will reduce
wolves fear towards to human at the beginning, and this less fearful movement directly helped
them to gain humans trust and affection. Just as Yan describes, Because synaptic plasticity are
widely believed to be cellular correlates of learning and memory, this change may alter the
learning and memory abilities of ancient scavenging wolves, weaken the fear reaction toward
humans, and prompt the initial interspecific contact (3115). With the improvement on
technology, increasingly fundamental factors that drove the dog domestication gradually walked
out of the shadow. Synaptic plasticity plays one of the key roles in this process, and deeper

mechanisms still remain awaiting. Scientific research enables us to stay curious about dogs, and
helps to file more dog welfares activities according to the poor situation of homeless dogs.

The Physiological Changes on Both Humans and Dogs

One of the newest researches, published by Guo-dong Wang, a genetics researcher at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, states that they found both humans and dogs underwent similar
changes in genes responsible for digestion and metabolism, such as genes that code for
cholesterol transport. Those changes could be due to a dramatic change in the proportion of
animal versus plant-based foods that occurred in both at around the same time. Both humans
and dogs have adopted the change of food in a physiological way together. Digesting same food
only indicates that humans and dogs have lived together, it is evolved to have similar
metabolism that highlighted how clever dogs were. They have fully adopted the changing diet,
and were able to initiate physiological change with humans at the same time. This accurate and
up-to-the-minute modification helped dogs catch on human path once again. Adopting new diet
with human is another evidence that proves the coevolution.
In addition, the benefits of this symbiosis also include positive physiological changes on
both sides. According to the newest research Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution
of human-dog bonds by Nagasawa et al, at June 12, 2015. This group of Japanese scientists has
found out the positive physiological impact on human during cuddling or touching, or even
gazing dogs. In this research, Nagasawa et al have found the increasing oxytocin level at both
human and dog urine when they are gazing each other. (Oxytocin, one of the so-called love
hormone which can reduces stress responses, including anxiety - and these anxiolytic effects

have been demonstrated in a number of species (medicalNewsDaily.com)). Referring to

Nagasawas research, We show that gazing behavior from dogs, but not wolves, increased
urinary oxytocin concentrations in owners, which consequently facilitated owners affiliation and
increased oxytocin concentration in dogs (115). According to this amazing finding, dogs and
humans are not only getting along with each other, but also internally boost each others physical
conditions. Moreover, Nagasawa et al conclude this surprisingly finding supports the existence
of an interspecies oxytocin-mediated positive loop facilitated and modulated by gazing, which
may have supported the coevolution of human-dog bonding by engaging common modes of
communicating social attachment. Therefore, if one species can bring humans safety,
enjoyment, and relaxation at the same time, no wonder they would become humans best friend.
In a word, both dogs and humans were adopting changes in diet over time. Surprisingly
dogs were able to tolerate changes as fast as humans, and established positive bonding with
humans by investigating the oxytocin secretion. Dogs take their pain to adopt human life styles
all the time. As return, we should slow down our path and start to take more care about our best
friends.

Conclusion
A review of the most important studies on canine domestication reveal three reasons for
why it occurred. First, the wolf-wolf conspecific co-operation provided the basis of
domestication; without this, our ancestors would have domesticated the loyal canine guardian
(Canine Cooperation Hypothesis, Range Friederike). Second, less fearful wolves were selected
to cooperate and communicate with humans during domestication and, thus, evolved some

genetic predispositions allowing them to develop skills shared with humans (Range Friederike).
Third, humans and dogs enjoy each others company which causes both to feel better
physiologically (Oxytocin-gaze Positive Loop and the Coevolution of Human-dog Bonds,
Nagasawa et al). The process of dog domestication is not a predomination by humans, but more
like a coevolution. Both humans and dogs have been enjoying the guardians and shelters from
each other, thus they are reproductive advantageously. Coevolution starts from
domestication, went through cooperation, ends up with improving together.
Therefore, humans and dogs are not only protecting each other, but also co-operating in order to
fight for more food, live space, and a better future.
Currently the problem of homeless dogs is getting the attention from worldwide. Both
PETA and WWF have launched new approach in order to solve this problem. Adoption can only
save a small portion of homeless dogs from death, but neutering and spaying is a great method to
both ensure their health and control the future population at the same time. According to the
American Dogs Welfare Association, neutering is a table turning method. It approves that
spaying at 6 to 8 months old is the most harmless and efficient way to eliminate both potential
reproductive system problem and future overpopulation concerning of homeless dog. With
spaying and neutering, dogs are tend to be less agitated and easier to be adopted
(americanhumane.org). We can more responsive to our best friends, and we surely can stop the
trending homeless dog situation by taking action right now.

Works Cited

Myriam Boudadi-Maligne, and Gilles Escarguel. "A Biometric Re-evaluation of Recent

Claims for Early Upper Palaeolithic Wolf Domestication in Eurasia." Journal of
Archaeological Science (2014): 80-89. Science Direct. Web.
Irvine, Leslie. If You Tame Me: Understanding Our Connection With Animals (Animals
Culture And Society): Leslie Irvine, Marc Bekoff: 9781592132416. Temple Up, n.d. Web.
20 July 2015.
Koepp, Stephen. "What Are Animals Thinking?" Time. Time, n.d. Web. 20 July 2015.
Grandin, Temple. "Why Cats and Dogs Think Differently about You." Time. Jim Childs, n.d.
Web.
Morey, Darcy. Dogs: Domestication and the Development of a Social Bond. New York:
Cambridge UP, 2010. Http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/lifesciences/zoology/dogs-domestication-and-development-social-bond. Cambridge. Web.
Oct. 2010.
Range, Friederike, and Zsfia Virnyi. "Tracking the Evolutionary Origins of Dog-human
Cooperation: The Canine Cooperation Hypothesis."
Http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01582/full. FOCUSED
REVIEW, 15 Jan. 2015. Web.
Li, Yan, Dong Wang Guo, Ming Shan Wang, and David M. Irvin. "Genome Biology and
Evolution." Domestication of the Dog from the Wolf Was Promoted by Enhanced
Excitatory Synaptic Plasticity: A Hypothesis. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2015.

Nagasawa, Miho et al. "Oxytocin-gaze Positive Loop and the Coevolution of Human-dog

Bonds." Oxytocin-gaze Positive Loop and the Coevolution of Human-dog Bonds. N.p., 12
June 2015. Web. 20 July 2015.