Posted by:
SL Cabbie
(
)
Date: December 04, 2019 05:59AM
And the article (in a British tabloid no less):
>>However, after studying it, scientists aren’t sure whether the ‘amazingly well-preserved’ creature is a dog or wolf – presumably because it comes from the point where dogs were domesticated.
>>So far, DNA analysis has not been able to establish Dogor’s species. He might have been a very early modern wolf. He might have been a very late ice-age wolf. He might even have been be a very early domesticated dog.
From a standpoint of molecular biology, it's impossible to determine whether this animal was a wolf or a modern dog. The issue is a complex one; both dogs and wolves descended from a common ancestor back, well... A long time ago...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-wolves-really-became-dogs-180970014/>>But controversies abound concerning where a long-feared animal first became our closest domestic partner. Genetic studies have pinpointed everywhere from southern China to Mongolia to Europe.
>>Scientists cannot agree on the timing, either. Last summer, research reported in Nature Communications pushed likely dates for domestication further back into the past, suggesting that dogs were domesticated just once at least 20,000 but likely closer to 40,000 years ago.
The Nature article is linked as well. Note the gap between 16,000 years and 40,000 years...