Dog DNA reveals they travelled with ancient humans across Eurasia for thousands of years
New research using skeletal analysis and ancient DNA suggests that dog diversity and the human-canine bond developed much earlier and more complexly than previously thought. Findings indicate that distinct dog-like skull shapes emerged around 11,000 years ago, while earlier specimens remained wolf-like.
Why it matters
Understanding the evolutionary history of dogs provides deeper insight into the long-standing co-evolutionary relationship between humans and domestic animals.
Two new studies published in the journal Science are reshaping what scientists understood about how dogs became so physically varied and how closely their history has tracked our own. Comparing a village dog, a toy poodle, and a mastiff makes clear just how extreme the physical range within a single species can be. Roughly 700 million dogs now live alongside or near humans worldwide, yet the true age of that variety and the depth of the human dog relationship have remained difficult to pin down.
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