14 DAY TRIAL // While previous genetic studies argue that dogs may have been domesticated in the Middle East or eastern Asia, a new investigation suggests that this process may have occurred in Europe, thousands of years before the advent of agriculture. The research effort was led by scientist Olaf Thalmann at the University of Turku, in Finland.
Though the conclusions of previous genetic studies are solid, Finnish investigators say that the data they have accumulated in this research has a lot of merit as well. For instance, the oldest remnants of creatures thought to be ancient wolves were discovered in Europe, not Asia.
These fossils belonged to wolf ancestors that lived on the Old Continent between 15,000 to 36,000 years ago. In a paper published in the latest issue of the top journal Science, the research team argues that domestication occurred in Europe between 18,800 and 32,100 years ago.
If this conclusion is true, then dog domestication may have occurred 6,000 to 20,000 years before the advent of agriculture, when humans were still hunter-gatherers. Within this may reside the reason why wolves were turned into pets in the first place.
At first, the wolves may have trailed the migrating humans, feeding on carcasses of animals the hunters killed. Over time, the hunters themselves may have found some use for the wolves, since the latter were able to recognize pray and threats well before humans could.
“It's these ancient wolf populations, now extinct, probably residing in Europe, that are the direct ancestors of domestic dogs,” explains University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) biologist Robert Wayne. He adds that modern-day dogs resemble ancient wolves more than modern wolves do.
For the new investigation, scientists harvested DNA samples from ancient wolf fossils, and then compared them to genetic material extracted from modern-day dog and wolf breeds. Wayne says that humans and ancient wolves started living together after they both recognized the mutual benefits that come with cooperation.
Dogs are “clearly the oldest domesticated species. How could we actually take something that could kill us and it becomes our best friend and lives close with us, sleeping on our beds, but in the wild these are aggressive animals that routinely take down prey larger than themselves,” Wayne adds.
In future studies, the research team will investigate fossils recovered from China and locations in the Middle East, in a bid to verify whether or not the European remnants are indeed older than those found anywhere else. Additionally, the group will look at other types of DNA besides mitochondrial DNA, NPR reports.