Research on dog DNA has revealed that dogs are not only our best friends but also one of our oldest companions.
To find out how long the friendship between dogs and humans has existed, an international research team led by postdoctoral researcher Anders Bergström from the London Kirk Institute compared the genetic cells of 27 dogs with those of modern dogs.
The results showed that dog breeds found in South Africa and Mexico have preserved the genetic markers of ancient dogs in those regions.
Today, dogs are spread across the Northern Hemisphere as loyal companions. Despite the expansion of European dog breeds during the colonial era, traces of ancient native breeds still exist in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
The study found evidence of dog domestication dating back up to 11,000 years, until the end of the Ice Age, confirming that dogs are among humans’ oldest animal friends.
This research explored different periods in the natural history of our oldest animal companions.
According to Dr. Pontus Skoglund, co-author of the study and a researcher at the Ancient Genomics Laboratory of the London Kirk Institute, ancient people would take carnivorous animals (wolves) with them when they went hunting.
This raises the question: why did this happen? Many people may find this intriguing.
One possible explanation is that to some extent, dogs’ genetic makeup is similar to humans’, and perhaps this is why, as humans migrated, they brought their close companions—dogs—along with them.
Co-author Greger Larson from Oxford University says that the dog is one of humans’ oldest and closest companions, and research on dog DNA can help us understand how far back the shared history of humans and dogs goes. It also helps us learn when and where this relationship began.
It is said that dogs evolved from wolves and later entered human camps to meet dietary needs, eventually proving themselves as excellent hunting partners and protectors as domesticated animals.
The findings suggest that dogs may have originated from extinct wolf populations or related breeds. If the DNA of domestic animals worldwide is studied, none shows the same type of cooperation as dog DNA.
According to Dr. Pontus Skoglund, the exact time and place where the relationship between dogs and humans began remains a mystery because the history of dogs is so dynamic that it is not yet possible to pinpoint exactly how and when this bond was formed.
Medical experts say that new research on dogs and wolves can help shed light on this relationship.