40,000 Years Ago: Wolves Were Domesticated as Dogs – What’s the Difference?
Dog's Inner Meaning
We know that dogs are loyal friends of humans, and they have a short life, but they spend their lives accompanying us.
Dogs are also one of the twelve animals in Chinese zodiac. In Chinese culture, they have rich colors, such as many idioms are related to dogs. For example, 'chicken and dog' , 'wolf dog bark at day' , 'knock at the dog door' , 'dog and pig are same' , 'dog' etc. Many idioms contain the word '', which shows that dogs had a strong presence in the human world in ancient China.
In science, dogs are a common dog species, with wolves as their family. Biologically, they belong to the canine family. DNA analysis shows that dogs are close relatives of wolves, but they evolved from wolves through interbreeding. It is believed that modern dogs began to be domesticated in Western Europe around 1.1 to 1.6 thousand years ago, so dogs and wolves separated and became closer to humans.
Wolf and dog began to separate
Scientists have applied to dog
Dental micro-abrasion texture
Analyze, to test the diet behavior of dogs 40,000 years ago, the result shows that dogs and wolves have the same dietary breadth, while the shape of the dog in the Paleolithic period is greater than that of wolves. This shows that there were two different types of canine animals, namely dog and wolf, in the middle of the Paleolithic period, and they walked on different paths.Wolf and dog have different dietary preferencesScientists have also compared the wild wolf and African wild dog, because of the reasons of biomechanics, the wild dog shows higher complexity and lower human value. The earth wolf prefers to completely eat small animals, while the African wild dog is more professional, but in the fierce competition with lions and hyenas, it can more effectively consume animal corpses.
Of course, isotope analysis shows that wolves and dogs have different hunting preferences. Wolves like to eat the corpses of mammoths, while dogs and lions like to eat deer, etc. Compared to mammoths, dogs can better break and consume the bones and smaller prey of deer, but dogs cannot eat mammoth bones. In addition, felids usually leave more meat and bone marrow than canines or hyenas, so dogs prefer to hunt felids. Because of the competition or environmental changes, the dietary preferences of wolves and dogs have deviated.
The significance of dog domestication
Dogs have been domesticated by humans, which means that dogs have integrated into human society. However, we can see that some wolves and humans get along very well. But why some wolves and humans get along so well, there is not a completely reasonable explanation. If one wolf gets along well with a human, it is almost equivalent to the thinking of a dog, but the body shape is still the shape of a wolf, and this wolf is likely to be in the transitional stage.
No matter how to say, the domestication of wolves by humans is a great progress for humans. Dogs played an important role in human life, besides the need for dogs in ancient agriculture, the main role of dogs today is as a spiritual companion for people. You can find people and dogs living videos on all major video platforms. Besides the modern society, canine animals also played many roles in the Paleolithic daily life. The domesticated dogs were used as hunting and work aids.
Paleolithic Knowledge Supplement
Paleolithic
is the early stage of stone age, about 260 years to 1.2 years ago. The dog domestication in this article is in the 40,000 years ago of today.
Summary of the article
In general, this article first explained the concept of dogs and related cultural connotations, then introduced the time when dogs were domesticated by humans, according to the morphological and genetic studies, it is shown that in the Paleolithic period, it is 40,000 years ago that dogs were domesticated by humans.
Secondly, it expounds the scientific research methods of dog domestication history, namely dental micro-abrasion texture analysis, which shows that dogs and wolves have the same dietary breadth.
Thirdly, it expounds the use of isotope analysis methods, showing that wolves and dogs have distinguishable dietary preferences. Wolves like to eat the corpses of mammoths, while dogs and lions like to eat deer, etc. Compared to mammoths, dogs can better break and consume the bones and smaller prey of deer.Finally, it expounds the role of dogs in human society, which is both a tool for ancient human pastoralism and a spiritual companion for people today.
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