How dogs happened
Created | Updated Dec 13, 2004
Until very recently, it was commonly believed that dogs were domesticated from Grey Wolves in the Fertile Crescent region. It is now known that, in fact, the dog was first domesticated in East Asia. A Swedish team published the results of mitochondrial DNA research, SCIENCE, 22Nov02. All dogs, in fact, come from 3 (possibly 5) breeding females in China ~14,000 years ago (or is it 140,000?).
[This raises some other questions that I don't know how to answer: given this fact, Dogs were domesticated ~14,000 years ago in Asia [source: Science, 2002November22],
1 how long before that were ancestor dogs and humans coexiting?
2 What kind of wolf was the ancestor dog? Like a Timber wolf? Like a Mexican Red wolf?]
It's nice that that's settled but, regardless of whether the domestication happened in Mesopotamia, Asia, or Europe, what still seems facinating is the mechanism for the creation of this symbiotic bond. The relationship between dogs and humans is not like any other. Dogs are not domesticated livestock, like horses or sheep. They are not mere pets, like cats or parakeets. They are, and have been for millenia, partners in whatever it was that occupied humans. For hunter gatherers, dogs are hunting partners. For herders, dogs are herders and guards. For farmers, dogs are guards and pest controllers. Dogs have been miners, police, search and rescue; it wouldn't surprise me to find they've been accountants.
How did it happen? 14,000 years ago much of the world was still glacial. There were many large, terrestrial mammals, now extinct [eg: megathurium, mammoth,..]
So maybe it was like this.. Wolves and people are (and were) both smart and observant. Both were (and are) top predators. People lived in hunter-gatherer bands of, say, 12 adults along with children and elders. Lets say a band kills a mammoth. No way they can eat it all before it goes bad. So, they take to their camp only the choicest, most conservable pieces. What they leave (big bones, organs, fatty meat) is very attractive to wolves, who while top predators themselves could never bring down a mammoth, and, like all predators, will never turn down a free meal. OK, that's just scavenging so far. Perhaps some individual wolves were more or less inclined to live very close to another predator species. That leads to the initial genetic filter putting the most "domesticatable" pack (or that with the most domesticatable alpha) in habitual proximity to humans. Now lets say the wolves, being tolerated by the humans as long as they don't interfere or threaten, come along on the hunt to watch. We know that dogs like to watch big things happen.
[This seems important. A trait or traits of dogs can be causative genetic factors in their domestication. That is, those wolves that didn't like to watch big things happening stayed wolves. Those wolves that didn't like to be around humans stayed wolves.]
Now, the band probably has ~6 hunters; killing a mammoth is hard and dangerous. But what if a pack of clever and observant wolves are also in the fray, distracting the prey even though they have no chance in bringing it down? They are consumate cooperative hunters, after all. They know how to help. They keep the unlucky beast from noticing the man with the spear until it's too late. Fewer caualties, more success, more meat to go around. The humans start giving the wolves their "share" on purpose, not just leaving it for them to scavenge.
[The wolves are conscious participants in their own domestication, or the mutual domestication of dogs and humans. That is, the partnership is purposeful from both sides. The dog/wolf does something consciously to cause something to happen in its relationship with the human. The human does something consciously to cause something to happen in its relationship with the dog.]
The humans start encouraging the wolves to accompany them. They start checking out which individuals help the most, hinder the least. They start changing the pack dynamic. We know from the behavior of both dogs and wolves that the pack hierarchy is important and clear. There must be an alpha; there cannot be more than one. When the human takes the place of the alpha, domestication is complete. Soon there is no pack, there are no wolves. There are dogs.
[1 is there any evidence of more large kills after domestication?]
[This raises some other questions that I don't know how to answer: given this fact, Dogs were domesticated ~14,000 years ago in Asia [source: Science, 2002November22],
1 how long before that were ancestor dogs and humans coexiting?
2 What kind of wolf was the ancestor dog? Like a Timber wolf? Like a Mexican Red wolf?]
It's nice that that's settled but, regardless of whether the domestication happened in Mesopotamia, Asia, or Europe, what still seems facinating is the mechanism for the creation of this symbiotic bond. The relationship between dogs and humans is not like any other. Dogs are not domesticated livestock, like horses or sheep. They are not mere pets, like cats or parakeets. They are, and have been for millenia, partners in whatever it was that occupied humans. For hunter gatherers, dogs are hunting partners. For herders, dogs are herders and guards. For farmers, dogs are guards and pest controllers. Dogs have been miners, police, search and rescue; it wouldn't surprise me to find they've been accountants.
How did it happen? 14,000 years ago much of the world was still glacial. There were many large, terrestrial mammals, now extinct [eg: megathurium, mammoth,..]
So maybe it was like this.. Wolves and people are (and were) both smart and observant. Both were (and are) top predators. People lived in hunter-gatherer bands of, say, 12 adults along with children and elders. Lets say a band kills a mammoth. No way they can eat it all before it goes bad. So, they take to their camp only the choicest, most conservable pieces. What they leave (big bones, organs, fatty meat) is very attractive to wolves, who while top predators themselves could never bring down a mammoth, and, like all predators, will never turn down a free meal. OK, that's just scavenging so far. Perhaps some individual wolves were more or less inclined to live very close to another predator species. That leads to the initial genetic filter putting the most "domesticatable" pack (or that with the most domesticatable alpha) in habitual proximity to humans. Now lets say the wolves, being tolerated by the humans as long as they don't interfere or threaten, come along on the hunt to watch. We know that dogs like to watch big things happen.
[This seems important. A trait or traits of dogs can be causative genetic factors in their domestication. That is, those wolves that didn't like to watch big things happening stayed wolves. Those wolves that didn't like to be around humans stayed wolves.]
Now, the band probably has ~6 hunters; killing a mammoth is hard and dangerous. But what if a pack of clever and observant wolves are also in the fray, distracting the prey even though they have no chance in bringing it down? They are consumate cooperative hunters, after all. They know how to help. They keep the unlucky beast from noticing the man with the spear until it's too late. Fewer caualties, more success, more meat to go around. The humans start giving the wolves their "share" on purpose, not just leaving it for them to scavenge.
[The wolves are conscious participants in their own domestication, or the mutual domestication of dogs and humans. That is, the partnership is purposeful from both sides. The dog/wolf does something consciously to cause something to happen in its relationship with the human. The human does something consciously to cause something to happen in its relationship with the dog.]
The humans start encouraging the wolves to accompany them. They start checking out which individuals help the most, hinder the least. They start changing the pack dynamic. We know from the behavior of both dogs and wolves that the pack hierarchy is important and clear. There must be an alpha; there cannot be more than one. When the human takes the place of the alpha, domestication is complete. Soon there is no pack, there are no wolves. There are dogs.
[1 is there any evidence of more large kills after domestication?]
