The Press Stories
Researchers have studied the DNA extracted from the bones of ancient dogs for traces of evolution that took place thousands of years ago, and after the Ice Age, found at least five types of dogs with distinct genetic lineages. Dog breeds were found to be “mixed and integrated” and are still present in dogs today.
“Already 11,000 years ago – before agriculture and before any other animal was bred – dogs were not only bred, they were already genetically diversified and could have spread to most parts of the world,” said lead author Anders Bergstrom and a researcher at the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the Francis Creek Institute in London. .N.
Although a team of researchers from the Francis Creek Institute, the University of Oxford and the University of Vienna, and archaeologists from more than 10 countries have changed and mixed these early genealogies over the past 11,000 years, they are still represented in dog populations around the world.
Chihuahua has an ancient heritage
Rhodesian ridgebacks, although mostly of European descent, contain some DNA of an ancient Middle Eastern or African descent, Bergstrom said, adding that some dogs in Siberia and the Arctic, Siberian huskies, derive their DNA from an ancient Siberian lineage.
Meanwhile, dog breeds from Mexico – such as the Chihuahua and Mexican hairless dogs – are mostly of European descent, but contain some Colombian DNA.
“All dog breeds from Europe share a common history that began with an ancient breed, many thousands of years ago, between two distinct dog breeds – one related to dogs in the Near East and the other related to dogs in Siberia. This is an ancient breeding event between these two breeds into the European dog genetic pool. Led, and then it will lead to all European dog breeds today, “Bergstrோம்m said.
Researchers have also compared the evolution of dog history with human history, evolution and migration.
“When the history of dogs is compared to the history of humans, they reflect each other, and in many cases, the history of dogs indicates that they were designed by humans,” Bergstrom said.
“In many cases, humans will bring their dogs with them when they move around the world,” he said.
“But in some cases dogs show different histories, suggesting that there are more complex factors in the game: sometimes people moved without bringing their dogs, or sometimes dogs were traded between human groups,” he said.
European dogs have lost their diversity – but no one knows why
Although modern European dogs appear to come in genetically different shapes and sizes, they share a recent common ancestor that is not as genetically different as they once were.
4,000-5,000 years before Bergstrom CNN, there were more diverse dogs in Europe, some animals like the Middle East, Siberian and “all in between” dogs.
However, at some point, this diversity was lost, which is not found in today’s European dogs.
“Looking at today’s (European) dogs, in terms of how they look, they are actually derived from a small subgroup of diversity that existed in Europe,” he said.
“How this happened is a mystery,” Bergstrom told CNN, “but at one point a population of dogs across Europe was controlled and replaced by everyone else.”
