Dog-gone it!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...olves-hunter-gatherersNew Theory: Hunter-Gatherers Domesticated Dogs From Gray Wolves

quote:

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The researchers found that the DNA of modern dogs most closely matched that of ancient wolves from Europe, indicating that dog domestication began there. They also concluded that dogs are descended from a population of ancient European wolves that are now extinct.

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"We found that instead of recent wolves being closest to domestic dogs, ancient European wolves were directly related to them," Wayne said.

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"This brings the genetic record into agreement with the archaeological record. Europe is where the oldest dogs are found."

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We know from the silver foxes that the transformation from wolf traits to dog traits can occur in just a couple generations, as it is due to hormonal changes affecting development. Multiple groups could cause initial breed differences while still being related to the wolf gene pool.Enjoy

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

No particular comment on the story, but a brief rant about sub-editors seems appropriate. How is it possible to keep your job whilst writing such wildly inaccurate headlines? Dogs being domesticated from grey wolves is not new, that's the old bit. The new bit is the idea that these wolves were European, rather than Asian or African.This is the level of quality that National Geographic keeps trying to force me to register to view?

oops