Field of Science

Carnival of Evolution #15

Carnival of Evolution 15 just went up at Southern Fried Science, from where I'll highlight this post by Satya where she asks this question:
The Rexes and Spots of the world have been man’s best friend for 15,000 years. But when and where did humans begin domesticating these furry companions?
I'd like to argue, though, that perhaps it wasn't really humans that domesticated dogs, but rather the other way around. Seriously.

Anyhow, the paper that the post is about is from Carlos Bustamante's lab and their collaborators, and they call into question the hypothesis of an East Asian origin for dog domestication, which could mean that when humans trotted out of Africa, they did it with dogs at their sides. One could then wonder whether it was the dogs who followed the humans, or the other way around...


  1. As far as the dogs/human domistication goes, probably a mixture of both. Humans learn to care for dogs, dogs learn to get on with humans. it's a perfect mutualistic relationship.

  2. Yeah but! If you wanna discuss it, you have to dichotomize!!!


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