Evolutionary Pathways: The Genetic and Morphological Journey from Wolves to Modern Dogs

Julian Wang

Exploring Scholar, North York, ON

Keywords:

Dog domestication

Canis lupus familiaris

Genetic evolution

Morphological adaptation

Domestication syndrome

Phylogeography

Mitochondrial DNA

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)

Commensal theory

Southern East Asia origin

Abstract

Dogs are common pets and companions in many cultures and they are believed to have been domesticated thousands of years ago in southern East Asia. However, current theories of the domestic dogs’ history are still debated and essential questions of the history of dog domestication remain unanswered. The first dogs-like canids appeared during the Paleolithic era, before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM). There are two leading theories as to why humans want to domesticate dogs can be separated into the commensal theory and the cross-species adoption theory. The commensal theory proposes that dogs self-domesticated while the cross-species adoption theory proposes that humans purposely adopt puppies. There are unanswered questions in both theories and scientists continue to debate between the two theories today. Despite being closely related species, wolves and dogs have genetic and morphological differences. For example, domestication syndrome is an important morphological feature of domesticated animals. Conversely, wolves possess a greater resistance to disease and a more robust immune system than dogs. Using various genetic technologies, researchers have been able to determine that modern dogs came from southern East Asia around 33,000 years ago. However, southern East Asia is not the only place where early dogs were discovered. Remains of other pre-historical dogs-like canids have also been found in regions like Europe, Greenland and Siberia. While details are still debated, scientists have proposed broad timelines and events for dogs’ history, where they first originated from the Paleolithic era.

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Published by the Journal of Young Researchers

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Published:

05-01-2025

How to cite:

Wang, J.(2025). Evolutionary Pathways:

The Genetic and Morphological Journey from Wolves to

Modern Dogs 11(1).

Issue:

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2025)

Section(s):

Biology

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