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Two ancient wolf populations which evolved into man’s best friend. DNA study closes in on solving the mystery of where and when dogs were domesticated. Imma Perfetto, Cosmos. The open access paper is: Bergström, A., Stanton, D.W., Taron, U.H., Frantz, L., Sinding, M.H.S., Ersmark, E., Pfrengle, S., Cassatt-Johnstone, M., Lebrasseur, O., Girdland-Flink, L. and Fernandes, D.M., 2022. Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs. Nature, 607(7918), pp.313-320. Another article is: Shrinking bodies and shrinking brains The transition from ancient wolves to small dogs was a simple one, but domestication may have whittled away cats’ brains. Jamie Preist, Cosmos, January 22, 2022 Yours, Paul H.

Dogs were domesticated once from a lost population of wolves Our history with dogs is complicated, according to a study of ancient dog DNA.Kiona N. Smith, Ares technica, Oct. 29, 2020 Anders Bergström1, Laurent Frantz, Ryan Schmidt, and others 2020, Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs Science 30 Oct 2020: Vol. 370, Issue 6516, pp. 557-564 Yours,, Paul H.

My hunting partner cancelled on me so I decided to try out some new spots alone in Northeast Texas. My luck was bad! I started off my day with a leaking boot in 35 deg weather. At my next stop I had three dogs across the creek growling and barking at me. I figured they would go away. I was wrong! They came barreling down into the creek aggressively towards me. The largest of the three was determined to bite me while the others growled. I went to war with my 5 ft hickory walking stick. After a couple of solid hits I won the battle and they retreated. They climbed back to the top of the creek bank and growled and barked at me for another 30 minutes or so. I found a few items and walked a mile back to my truck only to realize I had lost my phone. I started to give up and just report my phone lost but decided to look for it. I hiked the mile back through the woods down into the creek and somehow managed to find it. I did manage to find a nice size shark vert, fish vert and a couple of artifacts. My Brazos hickory walking stick has saved me more times than I can count from hogs, dogs and waist deep mud. It's a little heavy but worth it.

Whilst preparing a patch of ground for planting, I collected these assorted bones. I eat a lot of meat but do not recognise any of them. Some have been cleanly cut by a saw, maybe for soup. Looks like an electric saw not a hand one tho, as the cuts are very clean. Some ribs may be cat or dog they are not rabbit. The oldest house in the area is only 150 years or so. The condition of the bones, I would say they are around 100 years old. Some of the short stocky ones, must be a small powerful animal, so I was thinkng wombat. Maybe some are vealers, Ive not seen too many small cow bones tho. One rib is a cow I reckon, but I dont see the usual lamb bones Id expect to find. Not many small bones either, knuckles and digits and such that come with shop bought meat. I want to check that none are human before the tomatoes get too big.

Prehistoric fossils suggest modern dogs evolved from a single population of wolves Did humans domesticate dogs once, or twice? by Rachel Becker, the Verge, Jul 18, 2017 https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/18/15992572/dog-genetics-archaeology-fossils-evolution-domestication-wolves https://www.nature.com/news/ancient-genomes-heat-up-dog-domestication-debate-1.22320 The papers are: Frantz, L.A., Mullin, V.E., Pionnier-Capitan, M., Lebrasseur, O., Ollivier, M., Perri, A., Linderholm, A., Mattiangeli, V., Teasdale, M.D., Dimopoulos, E.A. and Tresset, A., 2016. Genomic and archaeological evidence suggest a dual origin of domestic dogs. Science, 352(6290), pp.1228-1231. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6290/1228 https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01326370/document Botigue, L., Song, S., Scheu, A., Gopalan, S., Pendleton, A., Oetjens, M., Taravella, A., Seregély, T., Zeeb-Lanz, A., Arbogast, R.M. and Bobo, D., 2016. Ancient European dog genomes reveal continuity since the early Neolithic. Biorxiv, p.068189. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms16082 http://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/08/07/068189 http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/08/05/068189.full.pdf Yours, Paul H.

Hey all! The family and I are planning on venturing out of our Maryland comfort zone and are planning a trip to Big Brook in the coming weeks. I was just curious as to whether or not dogs were allowed in the park with you while fossil hunting. I am assuming it would be ok, but haven't been able to find any information. Thanks for your input!