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Dogs May Date Back 60,000 to 100,000 Years to Hunter-Gatherer Societies, UCLA Scientists, Colleagues Find

Dogs have ancient origins dating back perhaps 100,000 years or more -- much older than scientists had thought -- UCLA scientists and colleagues found.

While many scientists believed, based on archaeological records, that domestic dogs dated back only 14,000 years, molecular genetic techniques reported in the June 13 [1997] issue of the journal Science show that man's best friend is much older. The new research also confirms that dogs evolved from wolves.

"Our data show that the origin of dogs seems to be much more ancient than indicated in the archaeological record," said Robert K. Wayne, UCLA associate professor of biology. "The origin of dogs dates well before the development of agricultural population centers that occurred approximately 10,000 to 14,000 years ago, and goes back to hunter-gatherer societies. While many people think a high level of sophistication was required to domesticate wild mammals, our data imply that very primitive societies may have had domestic animals.

"Scientists believe from archaeological records that many domestic animals, including cats and cattle, originated within the last 14,000 years. Cats may have been domesticated as recently as 7,000 years ago, Wayne said.

Wayne noted that his techniques do not enable exact dates to be determined for dogs. "Because of the extrapolation involved in the calculations, it's possible that the first dog dates back 60,000 years, or perhaps more than 100,000 years," he said.

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"It is possible that the first dog dates back 60,000,
or perhaps more than 100,000 years...."

For the research, Wayne and his colleagues studied DNA sequences from 140 dogs representing 67 breeds -- including golden retrievers, German shepherds, collies, St. Bernards, poodles, bulldogs, Irish setters, rottweilers, English sheepdogs, fox terriers and chow chows. They also analyzed 162 wolves from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, India, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Israel and other countries, as well as jackals and coyotes.

The scientists analyzed DNA sequences from the control region of the mitochondrial genome -- a region with a high mutation rate. They were surprised by the great diversity of DNA sequences they found within dogs.

"We expected to find DNA sequences in dogs that were closely related to those in wolves, perhaps even indistinguishable from those in wolves," Wayne said. "We expected to find a few different sequences in dogs; instead, we found 26.

"We initially suspected the amount of genetic diversity in the marker we analyzed would be very low because the only way that diversity accumulates is through DNA mutations over time, and 14,000 years is not enough time for many mutations to appear.

"We have found that the origin of dogs is much older than previously believed because the genetic diversity within dogs is much greater than one would find if their origin were as recent as 14,000 years ago," Wayne added. "Given the amount of genetic diversity that we found, we can calculate how long it should have taken to achieve this diversity if mutations alone were driving the process. Our calculations suggest the first domestic dog might be as old as 100,000 years or older."

While some scientists thought that dogs evolved from jackals or coyotes, Wayne and his colleagues found no evidence to support that view.

SOURCE:
UCLA News release: Dogs May Date Back 100,000 Years to Hunter-Gatherer Societies, UCLA Scientists, Colleagues Find
Date: June 10, 1997 | Contact: Stuart Wolpert, UCLA
E-mail: stuartw@college.ucla.edu | Telephone: 310-206-0511
Science article: http://www.idir.net/~wolf2dog/wayne1.htm

ORDER THIS BOOK: Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior & Evolution by Raymond & Lorna Coppinger

READ: A Review of Ray & Lorna Coppinger's "Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origins, Behavior & Evolution" by Barbara Bradley Petura, WorkingDogWeb.com webmaster

READ: An Interview with Ray & Lorna Coppinger with Barbara Bradley Petura, WorkingDogWeb.com webmaster

READ: Humans Brought Domesticated Dogs to New World More Than 12,000 Years Ago, Researchers Report and Dogs Evolved in Asia, an article by Barbara Bradley Petura, WorkingDogWeb.com webmaster

LINKS: Click for original journal articles:
· The Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog
· Molecular Evolution of the Dog Family

NEW DEVELOPMENTS: See links to recent articles on the origin and evolution of dogs on the home page of WorkingDogWeb.com

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