Some north African dog breeds are descended from jackals, so not ALL of them are wolf-based…
My memory may be fuzzy, but it was my understanding that domesticated dogs came from Asian Wolves, which are more dingo like (and in fact are direct ancestors of dingos) than say your North American Timber Wolf. When I think Wolf I think big grey/black sort of less fuzzy malamute looking thing. But the wolves that dogs came from are smaller, tanner, etc.
Depends on what you mean by “domestic”, but dingos are dogs people brought with them (for pets, food, or whatever is unknown) from SE Asia to Australia which later went wild.
Should a thread be started like this on cats?
Lap dogs started becoming popular among the nobility in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, with pet spaniels becoming really popular among the French nobility starting in the middle of the 14th century. Toys and minature breeds take off in the 15th century, and by the 16th century, they’re really popular.
The answer would be surprisingly similar.
The domestic cat was formerly Felis catus, but it, the European Wildcat ( Felis silvestris ), the African Wildcat ( Felis lybica ), and the Asian Wildcat ( Felis ornata ) are now all considered the same species - Felis silvestris. Of these the African Wilcat is usually considered the primary ancestor of today’s domestic cats.
Actually the specific epithet catus is older than silvestris and as such it normally would have priority. But there is some controversy over using the name of a domestic animal, so last I heard it was still silvestris ( but that might have changed ).
- Tamerlane
Dogs that have reverted to the wild tend to become medium sized with short hair, short ears and a curly tail. But they are not wolves. Domesitc dogs have been neotenized (I made that workd up, somewhat), or bred to to retain more pup like behaviors.
I read something which claimed that dogs may have been a significant factor behind why mankind became so successfull.
Its the same theory Whack-a-Mole said above - tamer wolves came to human camps and eat scraps of food, eventually just following the nomadic humans around. At night, if they sensed any predators coming they would howl (the same behavior seen in a wolf pack), thereby waking up the humans and allowing them to defend themselves.
This guy thought that the threat of threat of attacks at night would have been very serious if it wasn’t for the wolves, as humans tend to sleep at night, in the open.
I don’t have a cite, and its only a speculative theory anyway. But essentially we may owe our existence to dogs!
Not so sure about this one. Humans is the wild tend to be avoided by nearly all predators. We have this thing about killing them and wearing their skins. Regardless, all that fire and noise tends to freak them out, and you’d be surprised what a desperate man with a stout spear can do to a bear.
Plus, I’d say early humans quite probably were partly active at night anyway. Its not hard to post a watchman if you fear predators.
Plus, men survived for a VERY long time before dogs came around.
Just saying its not likely to have been a determining factor.
Not so sure about this one. Humans is the wild tend to be avoided by nearly all predators. We have this thing about killing them and wearing their skins. Regardless, all that fire and noise tends to freak them out, and you’d be surprised what a desperate man with a stout spear can do to a bear.
Plus, I’d say early humans quite probably were partly active at night anyway. Its not hard to post a watchman if you fear predators.
Plus, men survived for a VERY long time before dogs came around.
Just saying its not likely to have been a determining factor.
Pet dogs are depicted on paintings earlier than that. I would say since the XV°-XVI° century (estimate based on the kind of painting I’ve in mind). So they existed at least during the late middle-ages/renaissance. And possibly even before that time, but I wouldn’t know.
Ok clairobscur and Captain Amazing:
I might have been off by a century or three in my estimate but my point stands that in 15,000 years of having dogs as partners humans only went for the wildy divergent breeds we see today in the last 500 years or so. Also, while you may see lap dogs and such appear in the 1500’s I still don’t think you’ll see the explosion of differing breeds we see today really get going till the 1700’s.
Indeed, on my computer desktop, I currently have a painting by Carpaccio (Venetian, late 15th century) of St. Augustine in his study . He is attentively watched by a lil’ white lap dog–who is probably there because dogs traditionally represent faith (hence the traditional dog name “Fido,” derived from “fides”).
A similar lapdog appears in the famous Arnolfini portrait by Jan van Dyck (1434), where he serves a similar symbolism.
I’m sure there are earlier representations of lapdogs in art, but those are a couple from the fifteenth century that come to mind.
Should we start a thread for Tweety Bird, too? Thufferin’ thuccotash…
So, what was the size of doggie ancestors? And how do you get from there to Irish Wolf Hounds and Toy Mini-Doberman things? Selective breeding of runts and giants?
(Hmmm…would those two breeds mate? What would be the offspring? Ewww…)
My cat, which you can see by clicking on my link on the button below this message, includes some distant crossbreeding with the wild SE Asian “leopard cat”. They aren’t much bigger than domestic cats and were bred into the domestics thinking their immunity to some diseases might transfer over. It didn’t, but they looked cool and have interesting temperments.
Yes, different sized breeds are accomplished simply by selective breeding. Interestingly, many breeds are simply examples of genetic diseases. Achondroplastic dwarfism gives you bulldogs, pituitary dwarfism gives you lap dogs, acromegaly gives you giant dogs. Then throw in variations in coat quality and color, often these are single nucleotide polymorphisms. And of course, the overwhelming trend in dog breeding is neoteny, the retention of juvenile characters into adulthood.
Both John Mace and Lemur## mentioned the term neoteny, and I read some time ago that a dog was a neotenic wolf–a wolf that when it grew up retained some juvenile characteristics. The illustrative example given was that both dog and wolf puppies will play, but a grown wolf will not play and a grown dog will because it is a neotenic wolf.But it didn’t say how it became neotenic… I also read that a human was a neotenic ape, ie., we retain juvenile characteristics of monkeys into adulthood, such characteristics as relative hairlessness or furlessness; tendency to keep playing and wanting to play when we grow up,instead of work and be responsible, for example; and some more. And we’re becoming more neotenic, as I read that there was a study I can’t cite from some university that said that nowadays humans aren’t really mature until the age of 34, whereas nine year old kids back in the Dark Ages (and of course in the third World today) were responsible for families, etc. It’s like that grown woman
(physically) on a Seinfeld episode who when her blob of ice cream fell to the ground cried about it! But getting back to cats, I heard twhops I better start another thread on my cat querie.
It seems that grown chimps, in the wild, play too. Of course, we’re failry close to the pan species, especially the bonobos, but still.
Also, I’ve played with grown wolves, though not in the same way as I’ve done with dogs. Yes, dogs are more playful, and the wolves in question were semi tame. But they did play, after a fashion. They enjoyed rolling around in the snow for some gentle rough and tumble.
I’m one of those who think that dogs helped us become human, or maybe civilized is a better word. Dogs might have been of help when we were hunters and nomads. But they surely were crucial when we started farming, and keeping other animals. Herding, guarding, aid in hunting, tracking. It’s all there in one neat package.
Nope. The AKC only recognizes 150 breeds and breed varieties; far less than registries in other countries. They’re very picky about what gets recognized as a breed in the US; the Jack Russell Terries and Spinone Italiano were only recognized a few years ago, for instance. Wolves aren’t recognized as a dog breed, nor are wolf-hybrids.
Maybe one of the offbeat registries, like the Continental Kennel Club, recognizes wolf-hybrids.