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Since their emergence
over 200,000 years ago,
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modern humans have established
homes and communities all over the planet.
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But they didn’t do it alone.
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Whatever corner of the globe you find
homo sapiens in today,
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you’re likely to find another
species nearby:
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Canis lupus familiaris.
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Whether they’re herding, hunting,
sledding, or slouching
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the sheer variety of domestic
dogs is staggering.
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But what makes the story of man’s
best friend so surprising
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is that they all evolved from a creature
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often seen as one of our oldest rivals:
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Canis lupus, or the gray wolf.
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When our Paleolithic ancestors first
settled Eurasia roughly 100,000 years ago,
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wolves were one of their main rivals
at the top of the food chain.
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Able to exert over 300 lbs. of pressure
in one bone-crushing bite
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and sniff out prey more than a mile away,
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these formidable predators didn’t have
much competition.
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Much like human hunter-gatherers,
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they lived and hunted
in complex social groups
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consisting of a few nuclear families,
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and used their social skills to
cooperatively take down larger creatures.
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Using these group tactics,
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they operated as effective
persistence hunters,
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relying not on outrunning their prey,
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but pursuing it to the point
of exhaustion.
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But when pitted against the similar
strengths of their invasive new neighbors,
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wolves found themselves at a crossroads.
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For most packs,
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these bourgeoning bipeds represented
a serious threat to their territory.
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But for some wolves,
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especially those without a pack,
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human camps offered new opportunities.
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Wolves that showed less aggression
towards humans
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could come closer to their encampments,
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feeding on leftovers.
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And as these more docile scavengers
outlasted their aggressive brethren,
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their genetic traits were passed on,
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gradually breeding tamer wolves
in areas near human populations.
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Over time humans found a multitude of uses
for these docile wolves.
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They helped to track and hunt prey,
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and might have served as sentinels
to guard camps
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and warn of approaching enemies.
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Their similar social structure made
it easy to integrate with human families
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and learn to understand their commands.
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Eventually they moved from the fringes
of our communities into our homes,
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becoming humanity’s
first domesticated animal.
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The earliest of these Proto-Dogs
or Wolf-Dogs,
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seem to have appeared around
33,000 years ago,
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and would not have looked all that
different from their wild cousins.
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They were primarily distinguished
by their smaller size
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and a shorter snout full of
comparatively smaller teeth.
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But as human cultures and occupations
became more diverse and specialized,
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so did our friends.
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Short stocky dogs to herd livestock
by nipping their heels;
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elongated dogs to flush badgers
and foxes out of burrows;
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thin and sleek dogs for racing;
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and large, muscular dogs for guard duty.
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With the emergence of kennel clubs and
dog shows during England’s Victorian era,
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these dog types were standardized
into breeds,
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with many new ones bred
purely for appearance.
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Sadly, while all dog breeds are the
product of artificial selection,
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some are healthier than others.
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Many of these aesthetic characteristics
come with congenital health problems,
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such as difficulty breathing
or being prone to spinal injuries.
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Humanity’s longest experiment
in controlled evolution
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has had other side effects as well.
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Generations of selection for tameness
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have favored more juvenile
and submissive traits
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that were pleasing to humans.
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This phenomenon of selecting traits
associated with youth is known as neoteny,
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and can be seen in many domestic animals.
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Thousands of years of co-evolution
may even have bonded us chemically.
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Not only can canines understand
our emotions and body language,
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but when dogs and humans interact,
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both our bodies release oxytocin;
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a hormone commonly associated with
feelings of love and protectiveness.
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It might be difficult to fathom how every
Pomeranian, Chihuahua, and Poodle
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are descended from fierce wolves.
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But the diversity of breeds today
is the result of a relationship
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that precedes cities, agriculture,
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and even the disappearance
of our Neanderthal cousins.
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And it’s heartening to know
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that given enough time,
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even our most dangerous rivals
can become our fiercest friends.
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