Link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/5/l_015_02.html

*PBS. PBS. Web. 20 May 2014.*








Evolution of the Dog


Recent molecular evidence shows that dogs are descended from the gray wolf, domesticated
about 130,000 years ago. But if they all share a common ancestor, why do toy poodles and
Great Danes seem to have little in common? Years of selective breeding by humans has resulted
in the artificial "evolution" of dogs into many different types.


From Pekingese to St. Bernard and greyhound, dogs come in such startling variety it's easy to
forget they belong to the same species. The profusion of breeds today -- at least 150 -- reflects
intense, purposeful interbreeding of dogs in the past 150 years.

One consequence of interbreeding to create purebreds with sharply individual traits is that many
disease-causing genes have become concentrated in these breeds. Because of the growing
concern about health problems and the availability of powerful methods to hunt genes, scientists
are hard at work on the "dog genome project." As with the Human Genome Project, the goal is to
locate and map canine genes, particularly those that play a role in disease. Genes that influence
behavior are also of great interest.

At the same time, the entire history of dogs and their relationship with humans has undergone
some rethinking recently, thanks in large part to high-tech molecular dating methods that can
determine evolutionary relationships and chronologies.

The dog, Canis familiaris, is a direct descendent of the gray wolf, Canis lupus: In other words,
dogs as we know them are domesticated wolves. Not only their behavior changed; domestic dogs
are different in form from wolves, mainly smaller and with shorter muzzles and smaller teeth.

Darwin was wrong about dogs. He thought their remarkable diversity must reflect interbreeding
with several types of wild dogs. But the DNA findings say differently. All modern dogs are
descendants of wolves, though this domestication may have happened twice, producing groups of
dogs descended from two unique common ancestors.

How and when this domestication happened has been a matter of speculation. It was thought until
very recently that dogs were wild until about 12,000 years ago. But DNA analysis published in
1997 suggests a date of about 130,000 years ago for the transformation of wolves to dogs.
This means that wolves began to adapt to human society long before humans settled down and
began practicing agriculture.

This earlier timing casts doubt on the long-held myth that humans domesticated dogs to serve as
guards or companions to assist them. Rather, say some experts, dogs may have exploited a niche
they discovered in early human society and got humans to take them in out of the cold.