Domestication Flashcards
Who did dogs descend from?
Grey wolves
When were dogs domesticated?
j
Where were dogs domesticated?
j
How many times were dogs domesticated?
s
Why/how did domestication happen?
s
Which of the 5 questions do we have a definite answer to?
Who did dogs decesnd from
What are the 5 domestication questions?
Descended from whom
When
Where
How many times
Why/how
How do we know dogs are the same as wolfs?
They can reproduce and have fertile offspring
Where does evidence come from to help us understand domestication?
Archaeology and Genetics
For most of the 20th century, when did archaeological evidence suggest dogs were domesticated?
approx 15,000 years ago
For most of the 20th century, where did archaeological evidence suggest dogs were domesticated?
Eurasia or middle east
How did evidence date the domestication of dogs?
3 answers
Radiocarbon dating
where the fossils were found
with what humans they were found
What did we have no idea about
how many times dogs were domesticated
The ancestral species
Where was the jaw fragment found in 1873
Kesslerloch Cave, Switzerland
When was the jaw fragment from 1873 reanalysed?
2010
what method was used on the reanalysis of the jaw fragment found in 1873 in 2010?
Radiocarbon dating
What is compared when looking at wolves – dogs
5 points
Muzzle length
Brain case size
Tooth size
Tooth spacing
Jaw width
What happens to tooth size - wolf to dog?
Smaller
What happens to jaw length wolf to dog
shorten
How do researchers work out what changed first - wolves to dogs?
They piece together evidence/clues from bones
Does it all change in the same order when looking at bones
No!
What did the 2010 reanalysis of the jaw fragment show
This was the oldest undisputed dog fossil. It’s definitely a dog and supported the notion dogs were domesticated 15k years ago
What did the Belgian researcher say?
She has evidence - archaeological and genetic, that they were dogs 28-40k years ago
So when were dogs domesticated?
15k or 28-40k years ago!!
Where did the fossils come from to support the Belgian researcher’s view
3 answers
Belgium, Czech Republic, Siberia
Why is there a discrepancy in the dates of domestication?
What criteria are individuals using to define wolves and dogs?
Early dogs were likely backcrossed with wolves, many times in many different places