Wolf pups enjoyed snack time at Wolf Park, a zoo and research facility in Battle Ground, Ind. Scientists agree that gray wolves are ancestors of dogs, but there are still many unanswered questions about the origins of dogs.Credit...Andrew Spear for The New York Times
The New York Times has a story about man's (and woman's) best friend. For a long time, we've wondered "where did dogs come from?". Now, after research that has looked at 72 ancient wolf genes, we might finally know. It seems that two different lineages of ancient wolves contributed to the DNA of modern dogs. Research published in the journal Nature found that a population in Asia and a separate population in the Middle East or the surrounding area make up the ancestry of modern dogs.
For years, one of the most confounding questions in science — alongside “What is dark matter?” and “Why do we sleep?” — has been one that many pet owners may have found themselves casually pondering: Where did dogs come from?
Scientists generally agree that humanity’s best friend descended from gray wolves, scampering into our lives at least 15,000 years ago. Virtually everything else is a matter of debate.
“When and where did this happen and with whom — with what human group?” said Pontus Skoglund, a paleogeneticist at the Francis Crick Institute in London. “It’s really a mystery.”
Studies have turned up widely divergent answers, variously concluding that dogs were first domesticated somewhere in Asia or Europe or the Middle East or perhaps in multiple locations.
