Dogs Truck Maroon Heather

Dogs Truck

For many years, scientists interested in canine evolution speculated that some dog breeds descended from wolves and some from jackals about 10,000 to 14,000 years ago. Today, after many breakthroughs in genetic studies, biologists are probably coming much closer to the (more complex and far more interesting) truth about how dogs—from Chihuahuas to Chesapeake Bay retrievers, from dobermans to dachshunds—first came into being. Genetic evidence strongly suggests that dogs are descended from gray wolves and nothing but gray wolves. Your Pekinese is just a very small wolf in fluffy fur. When was the dog first domesticated? Bones of domestic dogs have been found at archeological sites dating back 14,000 years, when agriculture was first developed. The dog was almost certainly our first domesticated animal, making our best friend also our oldest. But in fact the dog probably has been traveling with us for far longer than 14,000 years. Genetic studies from the late 1990s indicate that dogs probably partnered with humans as long as 135,000 years ago and maybe even earlier—some human archeological sites dating back 400,000 years include the bones of wolves that may have enlisted with humankind long before evidence of their domestication showed up in their bones. Whats better than a pick up truck loaded with mans best friend ready for adventure?

Credit in part to National Wildlife Federation