How Did Different Dog Breeds Emerge?
Canis familiaris, the domestic dog, is the most diverse species in the world, according to Animal Planet. Even some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, distinctive breeds had already begun to emerge. Interestingly, there is some research that suggests the first dogs were tamed from wolves living near China less than 15,000 years ago. In fact, a study published in the journal Science found that all dogs probably comes from three female dogs, known as the “Eves” of the dog world. “It looks as if 95% of current dogs come from just three original founding females,” Matthew Binns, head of genetics at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, UK told BBC News. The researchers concluded that intensive breeding by humans over the last 500 years is responsible for the dramatically different dog breeds of today. “Even before the development of trade as we know it now,” said Carles Vila, of Uppsala University, Sweden in BBC News “humans had to be exchanging dogs.
