Two ancient wolf populations contributed to origin of modern dogs

[Oxytropidoceras]

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.

[JBkansas]

Dog genetics are really interesting, both for the demonstrating evolution in action (for an unknown reason, dogs achieve marked differences in phenotype from very small genetic differences) as well as evolution taken to it's most extreme (evolution of the unicellular mammal parasite CTVT).

 

Have you read about the study of silver fox domestication?