Research Undermines Dog Domestication Theory

steven johnson

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Mon Aug-03-09 10:09 PM
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Research Undermines Dog Domestication Theory

It was once thoughy that dogs were domesticated from wolves in East Asia, but new work calls that into question.

...their samples, reported in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have called into question a finding on the origin of dog domestication from wolves.

The origin is thought to be East Asia, based on a 2002 survey of both village dogs and breed dogs. But most of the village dogs in that survey came from East Asia, which could have tilted the outcome. The African village dogs turn out to have much the same amount of genetic diversity as those of East Asia. This is puzzling because the origin of a species is usually also the source of greatest genetic diversity.

The lack of any sharp gradient of genetic diversity between East Asian and African village dogs could mean that once domesticated, dogs spread very quickly from their point of origin. Another explanation, Dr. Boyko said, is that they originated at some point halfway between the two regions, like in the Caucasus mountains.

The solution to the origin of the dog will come from sampling wolves throughout the world as well as village dogs, Dr. Wayne said. A genome-scanning chip, similar to those developed for studying the human genome, has been developed for dogs. Dr. Wayne, working with Dr. Boyko and colleagues, has used the chip to scan wolf genomes. He said they were now working on a report that might resolve the current quandary as to where the first dogs originated.
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Research Undermines Dog Domestication Theory

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Bolo Boffin

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Mon Aug-03-09 10:26 PM
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1. Like in the Caucasus Mountains?

Like from where we got domesticated horses?

Very interesting.

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muriel_volestrangler

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Tue Aug-04-09 07:24 AM
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5. Earliest domesticated horses may have been in northern Kazakhstan

Mar 5, 2009

First domesticated horses in central Asia more than 5,000 years ago

It's pretty hard to milk a wild mare. So researchers attempting to determine whether ancient Botai in northern Kazakhstan had domesticated horses tested their pottery for evidence that they were as fond as their modern descendants of mare's milk (you can see a modern mare being milked by a Kazakh woman). Their finding, published today in Science: they were—pushing horse domestication to at least 5,500 years ago.

Archaeologist Alan Outram of the University of Exeter in England and his colleagues tested Botai cooking vessels and found clear evidence of mare's milk in nine of them. This constitutes strong proof of domestication, according to geochemist Rosemary Capo of the University of Pittsburgh, who analyzed samples from another Botai site known as Krasnyi Yar, because wild horses don't typically tolerate milking.
...
Finally, five of 15 horse jaws found in Kazakhstan examined by the team showed evidence of damage from a bit or bridle. In fact, one of the jaws had damage to the teeth that could only have come from wearing a bit, according to the paper. Paired with previous evidence of bone tools that appear to have been carved to straighten and stretch pieces of rawhide—prehistoric bit technology—the wear and tear argues that the Botai may have been the first people to have domesticated the horse.
...
The Botai are not the only people in the chase. Other researchers have turned up large quantities of horse remains, like the Botai, with an earlier people in what is now Ukraine. But, to date, the earliest known masters of the horse are the Botai of Kazakhstan.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=first-domesticated-horses-in-centra-2009-03-05

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Odin2005

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Fri Aug-07-09 12:06 AM
Response to Reply #5

7. Horse domestication is thought to be associated with the spread of the Indo-European languages.

Perhaps the spread of hunting dogs represents the spread of the hypothesized "Nostratic" super-family that includes many of the language families of Eurasia around 20,000 years ago

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timeforpeace

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Mon Aug-03-09 10:52 PM
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2. Some dogs, like huskys, are but the existence of canines in Australia and Africa points to

parallel evolution IMO. The planet just wanted doggies.

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applegrove

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Mon Aug-03-09 10:55 PM
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3. Amazing how they can pinpoint so much using DNA.

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Aragorn

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Tue Aug-04-09 04:14 AM
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4. and money

Someone paid for it ya' know.

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ProfessorGAC

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Thu Aug-06-09 07:10 PM
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6. Bad Dog!

That's the whole secret! Someone said to a wild dog, "Bad Dog". Domestication done! That's my theory and i'm sticking to it! :evilgrin:
GAC

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