A team of Finnish researchers have developed a new theory about dog domestication and the evolution of dogs from wolves. In an article appearing in the January 7 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, the researchers posit that hunter-gatherers roaming the frigid and unforgiving tundra of northern Eurasia during the last glacial maximum (approximately 22,000 years ago) began feeding their excess lean-meat proteins to wolf pups they were keeping as pets. They say this practice would have created a symbiotic and cooperative relationship between humans and wolves that benefited both species, setting the stage for dog domestication as we know it today.
Reconstructing The History Of Dog Domestication
According to an article in the Smithsonian Magazine, during the bitter and hostile wintertime conditions experienced by the occupants of northern Eurasia during the last Ice Age, the competition for prey among predators would have been intense. Human intelligence would have given them some advantage, enough so that small groups of hunter-gatherers living in these areas would have been able to obtain sufficient calories to survive.
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