In a recent 60 Minutes segment, Anderson Cooper talked to several experts on the behavior and genetics of dogs and wolves to discover why dogs are so friendly, and why the evolution of dogs can be called the "survival of the friendliest!" The experts say that...
Dog breeding has led to a wide variation in the sizes and shapes of the many dog breeds we see today, from the tiniest Chihuahua to the biggest Great Dane, but what about your dog’s coat? A new study of canine genetics reveals that nature, not...
A combination of DNA and fossil evidence is confirming what scientists have long suspected. Arctic sled dogs have not only been around longer than most dog breeds, they also might be the first known example of our attempts at selective dog breeding. A new DNA study...
We all know that our dogs are descended from wolves, but did you know that through continued interaction, domestic dogs have left a mark on the wild wolf population? A recent international study of Eurasian grey wolves has found that 60% of these wolves carry some...
Experts agree that dogs evolved from a now-extinct species of wolf over 15,000 years ago. The move from wild predator to human companion began with a practical realization on the part of a few of those wolves…that if they overcame their fear and hung around...
[caption id="attachment_1296" align="alignnone" width="300"] Dog's social skills were already present in the wolf. (Photo: Wolf Science Center)[/caption] Animal behaviorists have theorized that dogs’ close attentiveness to humans developed during the domestication process, as humans selected for such characteristics as tolerance and cooperativeness when first breeding dogs...