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Researchers Say Tamed Dogs Go Back 33,000 Years

Dogs have been "man's best friend" longer than any other animal. And, as it turns out, longer than previously thought.   A pair of research papers published in the past few years, one most recently by a team that includes the University of Arizona, significantly pushes back the timeline for domestication of dogs from about 14,000 years ago to more than 30,000 years ago.   Researchers at UA and universities in England and the Netherlands used radiocarbon dating to determine that the skull of a Siberian dog was about 33,000 years old. Slightly older dog remains were identified in Belgium a few years ago by a separate research team.   The two findings indicate the process of domestication was occurring in separate regions at a time when early humans, including Neanderthals, in Europe and Siberia were small-group hunter-gatherers. About 14,000 years ago, Neanderthals were gone and humans were more mobile, living and hunting in larger groups.   The latest study's co-author, UA professor Gregory Hodgins, said the finding broadens the timeline of humans interacting with the natural world. While humans have depended on animals since the dawn of the human species, domestication of animals indicates a symbiotic relationship between the two.   "It suggests living in close quarters and some sort of emotional bond," he said.   Scientists believe dogs are the oldest domesticated animal and descended from wolves.   To determine whether dogs were domesticated, researchers look for physical traits, such as shorter snouts, wider jaws and crowded teeth. Scientists theorize that humans perhaps showed a preference for wolves that were more social and looked less threatening. Over time, those behavioral and physical traits became more prevalent.   Before the most recent discoveries in Siberia and Belgium, the first signs of dog domestication appeared about 14,000 years ago. At some point, humans began relying on dogs for things like protection, hunting and companionship.   Dogs allowed humans to become a different, more effective predator, said Michael Barton, an Arizona State University anthropology professor who was not a co-author of either recent study. A dog's keen sense of smell allowed humans to track animals better.   "They give us an edge," he said.   Researchers don't believe the Siberian or Belgian dogs are direct ancestors to today's modern dogs. It's likely these early lineages didn't survive a period when the Earth's ice sheets were at their thickest about 20,000 years ago.   Recent research indicates today's modern dogs originated in the Middle East and East Asia.   The Siberian dog's skull and jaw, found in a cave filled with other mammal bones, was analyzed at UA's Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. The basement lab in the physics building has also analyzed such famous specimens as the Shroud of Turin and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The lab most recently analyzed the Voynich manuscript, a mysterious book that dates to the 15th century and is written in a language no one can understand.   Radiocarbon dating can take several weeks and uses a machine called an accelerator mass spectrometer, which measures the amount of carbon 14 in a sample. Carbon 14 is part of the environment and absorbed by plants through photosynthesis. An animal ingests carbon 14 when it eats plants or other animals, and when the animal dies, the amount of carbon 14 in its tissues drops over time at a predictable rate. Scientists measure the remaining amount of it in a sample and determine the age.   The UA research on dogs was published recently in Public Library of Science One, a peer-reviewed journal. The team included scientists in Russia, Canada, England and the Netherlands. Research on the Belgian dog was published in 2008 in the Journal of Archeological Science.

Information source: Above article written by Anne Ryman. Found in The Arizona Republic newspaper. Wednesday, January 25, 2012 issue.

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Why Little Dogs Are Little

Researchers have finally solved one of the great canine mysteries: Why are small dogs small?   As it turns out, small dogs all bear a tiny piece of regulatory DNA that shuts off the gene that produces a powerful growth factor.   The gene regulator was probably inherited from a miniature wolf about 15,000 years ago, although it has since disappeared from the wolf population, and has spread rapidly throughout the dog world by human intervention.   "All dogs under 20 pounds have this – all of them," said biologist K. Gordon Lark of the University of Utah, one of the authors of the paper published today in the journal Science. "That's extraordinary."   The discovery helps explains the great diversity in size among dog breeds, the greatest diversity among any mammalian species. It also may have implications for humans.   "By learning how genes control body size in dogs, we are apt to learn something about how skeletal size is genetically programmed in humans," said geneticist Elaine A. Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute, who led the study.   Researchers seeking to solve the riddle of why some dogs are little focused on a gene called IGF-1, the blueprint for a protein called insulin-like growth factor, which not only plays a role in human growth but also is implicated in cancer and certain skeletal diseases.   Learning how it is controlled will have many applications in humans, said Jeff Sossamon of the American Kennel Club's Canine Health Foundation, who was not involved in the research.   "The canine model is perfect for human research, because we share 85 percent of our genetic makeup with dogs," he said. "And we share 300 common diseases."   The study was triggered by biologist K. Gordon Lark of the University of Utah.   Lark speculated that small dogs arose because "a small wolf couldn't survive in nature, but it could survive in company with humans," or because an early human "wanted to domesticate a wolf and they didn't want to adopt a big sucker."   They spread rapidly because people liked them.   "Tiny dogs are not particularly functional," Kevin Chase colleague, biologist said.   "They don't hunt with you. They don't protect your house. They don't pull carts.   "They're just small and sweet."

Information source: From an article written by Thomas H. Maugh II. For the Los Angeles Times. Found in the Friday, April 6th. 2007 issue of The Arizona Republic newspaper.

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Mycroft's Column Mycroft © Bert E. Kavich Productions. All Rights Reserved. Deaths To Short - Snout Dogs On Airplanes Show A Trend     WASHINGTON – Owners of bulldogs and pugs, beware: Short-snouted breeds accounted for roughly half the purebred-dog deaths on airplanes in the past five years, government data released Friday July 16, 2010 show.   That comes as no surprise to the owner of the University of Georgia's mascot, Uga, who has a surgical procedure done on the dog to help him fly safely.   Overall, at least 122 dog deaths were reported since May 2005, when U.S. airlines were required to start disclosing them, the Transportation Department says. The dogs died while being shipped as cargo.   English bulldogs account for the single highest number of deaths among the 108 purebreds on the list: 25. Pugs were next, with 11 deaths, followed by golden and Labrador retrievers, with seven deaths each, French bulldogs with six, and American Staffordshire terriers, four.   Boxers, cockapoos, Pekingese and Pomeranians accounted for two deaths each.   Owners should consult with veterinarians before putting their dogs on planes, the department says. It believes the deaths represent a tiny percentage of the pets shipped on airlines.   Short-nosed breeds, known as "brachycephalic" in the dog world, have a skull formation that affects their airways, said Dan Bandy of Shawnee, Okla., chairman of the Bulldog Club of America's health committee.   "The way all dogs cool themselves is basically through respiration," Bandy said. "A dog that has a long snout or a long muzzle has more surface area within its nasal cavity for that heat exchange to take place."   Sonny Seiler of Savannah, Ga., who owns the University of Georgia's English bulldog mascot, said he has a surgical procedure done on each Uga before it is a year old to enlarge the dog's airways.   "They go into the nasal passage and clip muscles and tissue and in essence, what they do is they make a bigger air passage," Seiler said. "It's a quick procedure, and once you have it done, it really eliminates a lot of the problems with the breathing."

Information source: The above is an article written by Sharon Theimer for the Associated Press found in the July 17, 2010 issue of The Arizona Republic newspaper

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