General Category > General Discussion
Dog Lovers Take Note- Good Documentary
leafman60:
PBS has been re-running the two-part, Dogs That Changed the World/ Dogs By Design, series that is very interesting. It analyzes the origin of the animals and their history with humans.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/dogs-that-changed-the-world-introduction/1273/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/dogs-that-changed-the-world-full-episode-dogs-that-changed-the-world-dogs-by-design/8372/
fotoguzzi:
I saw both parts, very informative, interesting..
rodekyll:
They offer some interesting theories about the origins and timeline of the domestication of dogs. One thing not addressed is how dogs spread to all continents ('cept Antarctica) from a common source in east Asia, 15,000 years ago. Where does the dingo fit?
donn:
The biological origin section doesn't mention it, but part of the reason the dog could make that big evolutionary leap so fast - and it works with foxes too, and probably other species - is a phenomenon called neoteny. Deferred maturation, basically - the dog has more puppy in it, than its wild relatives. You can see that in the physical features, behavior, etc. Suppress maturation a little, and you get a whole bunch of traits that help with domestication.
There's plenty of reason to think the same applies to humans, neoteny is part of our evolution.
redrider90:
Right now the best science says dogs have been with humans for about 40K years. I say dogs have been with around higher functioning primates for a whole lot longer.
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