village dogs

[mellowtigger]

No modern human population lacks dogs in its culture. Our long, intertwined history leads to the co-evolution theory that humans and canines evolved together through mutual dependence.

Sure, humans have domesticated lots of animals, but those are typically done as shepherds. The animals feed themselves, or we collect their natural food for them. We use them as tools and eventually as meat. In the case of dogs, however, their bodies evolved with ours to adapt to new sources of food as we developed agriculture. Basically, we had good garbage that was rich in starch, and they scavenged our scraps.

We shouldn't take credit for the process, though. It's not that we were controlling their mating behavior to select our own choice of breeds; it's the wolves who adapted to us. Independent of humans, canines are quite versatile with their social bonding. After all, we aren't the only primates who integrate canines as tools in their society. Watch these baboons do it too... by force.

Nevertheless, the idea of humans and dogs evolving in mutual symbiosis is an interesting idea. It leads to questions about the genetic lineage of "village dogs", a term that refers to integrated canines who still mate by their own choice. One idea is that our mutual benefit is so strong, that adaptation may have happened independently many times. UCLA Today quotes Mark Derr:

"Wherever there are wolves and humans, you end up with dogs.”

I donated $100 to this crowdfunding project that is sampling village dog DNA from areas throughout Africa. They barely achieved their fundraising goal, but at least they made it. They're hoping to find genes favored by natural selection (rather than human-directed artificial selection) in canines. Those genes might help us better understand our own health. They sent me this photo as a souvenir of their travel in Africa. Notice how their appearance favors a tan-and-white coat and a longer, pointed snout than we typically see in cultivated breeds. (Click to see the photo in much larger version.)



All that fascinating history, and I haven't even scratched the surface of "interesting" with the abandoned dogs of Moscow who are evolving into 4 distinct groups: guard dogs, scavengers, wild dogs, and beggars. The beggars who specialize in brains rather than brawn have developed enough intelligence to master riding the subway on their own.