How a dog tamed a man

Scientists still do not agree on how the domestication of the dog took place: is this process the merit of man or is it the wolves who chose us – that is, “self-domesticated”. 

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Natural and artificial selection

Domestication is a curious thing. During the experiment with foxes, they found out that if animals were selected for such qualities as the absence of aggression and fear towards people, this would lead to many other changes. The experiment made it possible to lift the veil of secrecy over the domestication of dogs.

There is an amazing thing about the domestication of dogs. Many of the breeds in the form in which they are known to us today appeared literally over the previous 2 centuries. Prior to that, these breeds did not exist in their modern form. They are the product of artificial selection based on certain characteristics of appearance and behavior.

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It was about selection that Charles Darwin wrote in his Origin of Species, drawing an analogy between selection and evolution. Such a comparison was necessary for people to understand that natural selection and evolution are a plausible explanation for the changes that have occurred with different animal species over time, as well as for the differences that exist between related animal species that have turned from close relatives to very distant ones. relatives.

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But now more and more people are inclined to the point of view that dogs as a species are not the result of artificial selection. The hypothesis that dogs are the result of natural selection, “self-domestication” seems more and more likely.

History remembers many examples of enmity between people and wolves, because these two species competed for resources that were not enough. So it seems not very plausible that some of the primitive people will feed the wolf cub and for many generations make some other kind of wolves suitable for practical use.

In the photo: the domestication of a dog by a man – or a man by a dog. Photo source: https://www.zmescience.com

Most likely, the same thing happened to the wolves as to the foxes in the experiment of Dmitry Belyaev. Only the process, of course, was much more extended in time and was not controlled by a person.

How did man tame the dog? Or how a dog tamed a man?

Geneticists still do not agree on when exactly dogs appeared: 40 years ago or 000 years ago. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the remains of the first dogs found in different regions date back to different periods. But after all, people in these regions led a different lifestyle.

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In the history of people living in different places, sooner or later there came a moment when our ancestors stopped wandering and began to move on to a settled life. Hunters and gatherers staged sorties, and then returned with prey to their native hearth. And what happens when a person settles in one place? In principle, the answer is known to anyone who has ever been in the nearest suburbs and seen huge mountains of garbage. Yes, the first thing a person starts to arrange is a dump.

The diet of humans and wolves at that time was quite similar, and when a human who is a super-predator throws away leftover food, these leftovers become easy prey, extremely tempting for wolves. In the end, eating the remains of human food is less dangerous than hunting, because at the same time a hoof will not “fly” into your forehead and you will not be hooked on the horns, and people are not inclined to protect the leftovers.

But in order to approach human habitation and eat the remnants of a human meal, you need to be very brave, curious and at the same time not too aggressive towards people as a wolf. And these are, in fact, the same characteristics by which foxes were selected in the experiment of Dmitry Belyaev. And the wolves in these populations passed these qualities on to their descendants, becoming more and more close to people.

So, probably, dogs are not the result of artificial selection, but natural selection. Not a man decided to domesticate a dog, but smart wolves decided to live next to people. The wolves have chosen us. And then both people and wolves realized that there was considerable benefit from such a neighborhood – for example, the worries of wolves served as a signal of approaching danger.

Gradually, the behavior of these wolf populations began to change. With the example of domesticated foxes, we can assume that the appearance of wolves also changed, and people noticed that the predators in their neighborhood were different from those that remained completely wild. Perhaps people were more tolerant of these wolves than those who competed with them in hunting, and this was another advantage of the animals that chose life next to a person.

In the photo: the domestication of a dog by a man – or a man by a dog. Photo source: https://thedotingskeptic.wordpress.com

Can this theory be proven? Now a large number of wild animals have appeared that prefer to live next to people and even settle in cities. In the end, people take away more and more territory from wild animals, and animals have to dodge in order to survive. But the ability for such a neighborhood presupposes a decrease in the level of fear and aggression towards people.

And these animals are also gradually changing. This proves the study of the population of white-tailed deer, conducted in Florida. Deer there were divided into two populations: more wild and so-called “urban”. Although these deer were practically indistinguishable even 30 years ago, now they are different from each other. “Urban” deer are larger, less afraid of people, they have more cubs.

There is reason to believe that in the near future the number of “domesticated” animal species will grow. Probably, according to the same scheme, in accordance with which the worst enemies of man, wolves, once turned into best friends – dogs.

In the photo: the domestication of a dog by a man – or a man by a dog. Photo source: http://buyingpuppies.com