Dogs and Us

 Dogs have been our friends for at least 15,000 years!

Did you know that dogs have been the companions of humans for at least 15,000 years? All dogs are descended from wolves and are the same species. The difference is that wolves are wild and dogs are domesticated, meaning they are bred to live with humans and help us in our tasks such as animal herding and transporting materials, as well as protecting us from danger. As you know, the police use dogs to catch criminals and they are very effective in this task. But in ancient times dogs were needed to protect humans from dangers such as wild animals and other tribes of humans and even from closely related non-modern humans such as Denisovans and Neanderthals. According to research:

"Dogs make for interesting research subjects, from both a biological and an anthropological perspective. Domesticated dogs, wolves, and dingos all belong to the same species, even though dogs diverged evolutionarily from wolves sometime between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago. Since that split, people have bred dogs into the genetically distinct populations that we call breeds. By comparing dog genomes, we can learn about the human-made processes that produced these populations—and by studying ancient dog genomes, we can work to understand what those processes looked like far into the past." (Ancient Dog DNA Reveals Their Enduring Connection With People)

So dogs and humans have evolved together and the movements of different breeds of dogs can also tell us about how ancient humans migrated to different parts of the globe. Dogs really are our best and oldest friends!

Ancient dog DNA reveals 11,000 years of canine evolution

Question:  What other animals were domesticated by humans? Which one is the most important for our survival?