Science Friday Untangling The History Of Dog Domestication
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Jan 30, 2026 Dr. Carly Ameen, a bioarchaeologist who analyzed 600+ ancient canid skulls, and Dr. Erin Hecht, an evolutionary biologist studying the Russian silver fox experiment, explore how dog diversity emerged long before Victorian breed standards. They discuss early skull variation, Eurasian origins, roles dogs filled in human societies, and rapid behavioral and brain changes seen in domestication experiments.
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Breed Diversity Isn't Just Victorian
- Dog breed diversity predates Victorian kennel clubs and written breed standards by thousands of years.
- Carly Ameen found substantial skull variation long before intentional modern breeding began.
Early Morphological Shift In Dogs
- By ~10,000–11,000 years ago dog skulls show compact, shortened snouts distinct from wolves.
- By the Neolithic (~8–9k years ago) skull variation reached about half of modern diversity.
Eurasian Wolves Gave Rise To Dogs
- Dog domestication traces to Eurasian gray wolves, not North American populations.
- Loss of diverse Pleistocene wolf lineages complicates pinpointing exact origins.