The Further Elucidation of Domestic Dog Ancestry

By Kevin E. Noonan — An international cadre of scientists* from almost 70 institutions worldwide recently reported their findings in the scientific journal Nature that the domesticated dog (Canis familiaris) arose from two populations of ancestral grey wolves (Canis lupus) (see "Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs"). The grey wolf is recognized as the species that survived the last Ice Age (the last glacial maximum or LGM occurring ~28,000-23,000 years ago) to give rise to domesticated dogs, but little is known about progenitor wolf populations. Siberian grey wolves are known to have survived from this period…