A Dog’s life – Man’s Best Friend
Why this journey ? As humans and the privileged species who walk and rule the earth, we
inherit the earth, the responsibility of maintaining our planet and to care for the inhabitants of
this green earth. Dogs have evolved to being man’s best friend over the millenia.
Man’s best friend a.k.a a dog came about after generations of wolves scavenged alongside
humans more than 33,000 years ago in south east Asia, according to new research. Dogs
became self-domesticated as they slowly evolved from wolves who joined humans in the hunt,
according to the first study of dog genomes. It was about 14,000 years ago that dogs became
our best friend. “Survival of the friendliest” is the theory that suggests that wolves largely
domesticated themselves among hunter-gatherer people. The physical changes that appeared
in dogs over time, including splotchy coats, curly tails, and floppy ears, follow a pattern of a
process known as self-domestication. It’s what happens when the friendliest animals of a
species somehow gain an advantage. Friendliness somehow drives these physical changes,
which can begin to appear as visible byproducts of this selection in only a few generations.
And that’s how a wolf became a dog and became man’s best friend. Stay tuned to this space to
learn more about dogs, man’s relationship with them and how today they are in the state that
they are..