Evolution of Wolves to Dogs.
How did wolves get to evolve into our friendly companions?
Dog domestication.
Dogs never started out as dogs, they evolved from their ancestors, the wolf. But how did this all happen?
First of all, there is a difference between wolves and dogs. Unlike wolves, dogs are and were domesticated (taming an animal to keep as a pet) by humans. This change caused that dogs and wolves to become two different, but similar, new species.
It all started with the Gray Wolf.
What changed?
Some things that changed and are different between wolves and dogs would be the size and position of the teeth, dental pathologies, and size and proportion of cranial and post cranial elements.
Pathologies: the science of the causes and effects of diseases
where's the evidence?
When did all of this happen?
According to a genetic study of several kinds on dogs and wolves, there was an estimation that said that dogs and wolves diverged between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago. Now you have an idea of when all of this started.
Below is a picture of how wolves changed during time, from their ancestors to modern wolves today.
Did you know?
There are about 400 breeds of dogs worldwide, but we only recognize 178 of them!