From wolf to chihuahua: new research reveals where the dingo sits on the evolutionary timeline of dogs

Sun, 15 May 2022 20:07:30 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/from-wolf-to-chihuahua-new-research-reveals-where-the-dingo-sits-on-the-evolutionary-timeline-of-dogs-181605>

"Many people know modern dogs evolved from the grey wolf. But did you know most
of the more than 340 modern dog breeds we have today only emerged within the
past 200 years?

Dogs were first domesticated during the Neolithic period between 29,000 and
14,000 years ago, and have been closely linked to humans ever since. Dingoes –
the only native Australian dog – are thought to represent a unique event within
canine evolution, having arrived in Australia 5,000–8,000 years ago.

Yet dingoes’ exact place in the evolutionary family tree of dogs has never been
known. To find out where they branched away from grey wolves on their
evolutionary journey, we used cutting-edge DNA sequencing technologies to
discover that dingoes are fundamentally different from domestic dogs.

In research published today in Science Advances, in collaboration with 25
researchers from four countries, we show dingoes are an early offshoot of
modern dogs situated between the grey wolf and the domesticated dogs of today.
This work has potential implications for the health of all modern breed dogs."

Share and enjoy,
               *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

Comment via email

Home E-Mail Sponsors Index Search About Us