New study on genetic origins of dogs

BCSnob wrote:
When you’re bored with other things during this COVID isolation here is a recently published genetic study of dogs and man looking at how both spread throughout the world together (sometimes not together).

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Here is a commentary on this study and the current state of knowledge on this topic.

Of dogs and ***Link Removed***

A few interesting takeaways are:

Dogs likely evolved from a wolf population that self-domesticated, scavenging for leftovers from Paleolithic hunter-gatherers in Eurasia (2, 3). However, the exact timing and geographic location where the dog lineage started remain unknown, owing to the scarcity of Paleolithic dogs in the archaeological record. Analyses of genetic data suggest that dog-wolf divergence took place? 25,000 to 40,000 years ago (4, 5), providing the earliest possible date for dog domestication.

Amazingly, a human could domesticate such strong animals, which speaks volumes about their power and place in the food chain, but if you break it down in years, 40,000 is not that much, the obvious signs of civilization have made wolves an issue of survival, for such formidable animals were an obstacle for humans, who could wipe out their population altogether. If we look at the modern world, how many wolves are there in the world today? 60-70 thousand. And what is the population of dogs? 525 million. These numbers speak for themselves. A wolf is either a friend or prey.