Of Bonobos and Bottlenecks: Shifting Battle Lines in Dog Domestication Debates

A year ago I attempted to synthesize and, within my limited competence, comment upon archeological and genetic research regarding the origins of canine domestication.  This is not a static field and a number of papers that have appeared since show that the landscape continues to shift in significant ways.  The date of initial domestication of dogs has been pushed back to 32,000 years ago by one group (Wang et al. 2013), while analyses of...

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Dogs, Once Hunters of Ringed Seals and Polar Bears, Now Help Protect Them

Dogs have been trained to monitor the status of endangered species, including desert tortoises, Siberian tigers, and numerous other animals, but these functions were usually developed without any legal requirement.  In the oil drilling areas of Alaska, however, regulations recommend, in the case of polar bears, and require, in the case of ringed seals, that their habitats, particularly breeding areas, be identified by trained detection dogs....

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