How did our doggy friends evolve??
35 milion years ago MIACIS had given rise to a variety of early CANIDS. Almost 40 types resembling bears, hyenas, cats and some were like dogs. CYNODITIS resembeled a cardigain welsh corgi. These dog like CANIDS survived evolutionary and provided the basis of the domestic dog.
It was probably between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago the dogs as we know them today evolved from CANISLUPUS PALLIPES a smaller grey wolf that is still found in India, was distributed throughout Europe, Asia and North America. The other possible ancestors could have been a wooly wolf of North India and Tibet and the desert wolf of the Middle East.
EARL�EST YPES OF DOGS
From fossils dating back from the beginning of the Bronze age 4500 BC 5 distinctive dogs were indentified:
1. MASTIFFS (CANIS FAMILIARIS INSTRANZEVI)
A mastiff type breed from Tibet which was in the Stone Age were domesticated, later Babylon�ans, Assr�ans, Persians and the Greeks used them in Battle.
2. WOLF LIKE DOGS (CANIS FAMILIARIS PALUSTRIS)
A wof like dog that resembeled elkhounds, siberian husky, keeshond and eskimo dog.
3. GREYHOUNDS (CANIS FAMILIARIS LEINERI)
One of the oldest types where it had been indentified from mesoptamian pottery dating back 8,000 years.
4. Pointers (CANIS FAMILIARIS INTERMEDIUS)
Pointers possibly evolved from greyhounds and were used for hunting.
5. SHEEPDOGS (CANIS FAMILIARIS OPTIMAE)
Sheepdogs have been used to protect flocks from preditors in Europe for more than 1000s of years.
ANCIENT DOG BREEDS
Saluki originated from now know Syria about 4,000 years ago and share ancestory of the Greyhound.
The Mexican hairless dog from South America has moch in common with the chinese crested dog of mainland Asia.
African wild dog now an endangered species hunted to near extinction by man because it was a preditor.
Basenjis from Africa slightly different to the domestic dog as it has a reproductive cycle to that of a wild dog and does not bark.
Dingo originaly bought by the first immigrants to Australia 1000 years ago and have since returned to the wild.
Wolves were common world wide in Ancient times.
Siberian Huskys descended from Wolf like dogs was one of the earliest dog types.
It was due to intelligence, versatility and social cooperation within the pack that wild dogs quickly spread to all parts of the world. Many believe that it was the Dingo that the CANIS type that modern dog evolved. In different parts of the world dogs were domesticated in different wasy. Maybe it was that while wild dogs scavenged near human settlements, maybe that when man hunted and raised wild puppies to fatten up to eat for food.
From fossils dating back approx 6500 years ago 5 distinct breeds were found from that thousands of breeds developed but only about 400 remain today