Research conducted on dogs’ DNA has revealed that the dog is not only our best friend but also one of our oldest companions.
To find out how old the friendship between dogs and humans is, an international research team led by London Crick Institute postdoctoral researcher Anders Bergström compared the genetic cells of 27 ancient dogs with those of modern dogs.
The results showed that dog breeds found in South Africa and Mexico still retain genetic traces of ancient dogs in their regions.
Today, dogs are spread across the Northern Hemisphere as loyal companions. Despite the expansion of European dogs during the colonial era, traces of ancient indigenous breeds can still be found in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
The review found evidence that dogs were domesticated by the end of the Ice Age about 11,000 years ago, confirming that dogs are among the oldest animals to have formed a friendship with humans.
This research examined the natural history of our oldest animal companions at different points in time.
According to Dr. Pontus Skoglund of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the London Crick Institute, who is a co-author of the study, when ancient humans gathered for hunting, they often took carnivorous animals (wolves) with them.
This raises the question: why did this happen? Anyone might be interested in finding the answer.
One possible explanation is that, to some extent, the genetic patterns of dogs resemble those of humans. It is possible that as humans migrated from place to place, they took their closest companions—dogs—with them.
Co-author Greger Larson of the University of Oxford says that dogs are among humanity’s oldest and closest companions, and research on dog DNA can help us understand how far back the shared history of dogs and humans goes. It also helps us determine when and where this relationship began.
It is believed that dogs evolved from wolves. Later, driven by the need for food, they began entering human camps and eventually became domesticated animals, proving to be excellent hunting partners and protectors.
The findings suggest that dogs may have originated from a now-extinct population of wolves or a closely related species. If the DNA of domesticated animals around the world is studied, none shows the level of cooperation seen in dogs’ DNA.
According to Dr. Pontus Skoglund, when and where the relationship between dogs and humans began remains a mystery, because the history of dogs is so dynamic that it is still difficult to say exactly when and how this bond was formed.
Medical experts say that new research on dogs and wolves may help shed more light on this subject.