It's believed that the first species of
The fossil record is incomplete but it is likely that wolves arose from a population of small, early canids.
By 11,000 years ago, at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, it was clear that there were already five major dog ancestry lineages in existence: Neolithic Levantine, Mesolithic Karelian, Mesolithic Baikalian, ancient American, and the forebears of the New Guinea Singing Dog and Australian Dingo.
A close dinosaur relative, Asilisaurus kongwe, lived some 240 million years ago in what is now southern Tanzania. The peg-like teeth and upturned beak on its lower jaw suggest the animal was a plant eater.
The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur was found entombed in amber in 2016, an unprecedented discovery that has blown away scientists. The amber adds to fossil evidence that many dinosaurs sported feathers rather than scales.
The archaeological record and genetic analysis show the remains of the Bonn-Oberkassel dog buried beside humans 14,200 years ago to be the first undisputed dog, with disputed remains occurring 36,000 years ago.
Small dogs such as Pomeranians and Chihuahuas share a body size gene mutation with ancient wolves, new research has suggested. It has long been believed that small dogs exist because after the animals were domesticated, humans wanted small, cute pets.
In 2020, the American Society of Mammalogists considered the dingo a synonym of the domestic dog. However, recent DNA sequencing of a 'pure' wild dingo from South Australia suggests that the dingo is 'intermediate' between wolves and domestic dogs.
Shih Tzus share more DNA with wolves than most other breeds. The only breed group with more shared wolf DNA is the Nordic spitz group (Huskies, Samoyeds, and Malamutes).
KSNF/KODE — At 30 years and 286 days old, a Portuguese dog named “Bobi” was recently crowned the world's oldest dog ever, breaking an almost century-old record.
Neanderthals never domesticated dogs, but they did hunt the same animals as European wolves, mostly medium- to large-sized herbivores, including deer.
An international team of scientists has just identified what they believe is the world's first known dog, which was a large and toothy canine that lived 31,700 years ago and subsisted on a diet of horse, musk ox and reindeer, according to a new study.
Raffle the rescue pooch may now be in doggy heaven, but his name lives on – in the form of a 200million-year-old fossil he discovered. The remarkably complete remains of a plesiosaur from the Jurassic era have finally gone on display, 16 years after Raffle stumbled across them at Lyme Regis in Dorset.
President Reagan and Nancy Reagan with their new dog "Rex", a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
The Dalbo dog (Dalbohund) or Dalsland Mastiff is an extinct livestock guardian dog breed from Sweden. A Cuban breed of mastiff originally used for bull-baiting, dog fighting and recapturing runaway slaves; believed to have been descended from introduced Spanish Mastiffs, they became extinct in the mid-20th century.
The well-preserved remains of a new dinosaur nicknamed "Mud Dragon" likely freeze in time the death pose of the animal after its agonizing final breaths. The new species, Tongtianlong limosus, meaning "muddy dragon on the road to heaven," was discovered lying in rock that formed from what was once hardened mud.
In fact, birds are commonly thought to be the only animals around today that are direct descendants of dinosaurs. So next time you visit a farm, take a moment to think about it. All those squawking chickens are actually the closest living relatives of the most incredible predator the world has ever known!
Research has shown that chickens share genetic makeup with the vicious T-rex. Alongside ostriches, they are the most closely related animals to dinosaurs.
The dog, Canis familiaris, is a direct descendent of the gray wolf, Canis lupus: In other words, dogs as we know them are domesticated wolves.
There is archaeological evidence dogs were the first animals domesticated by humans more than 30,000 years ago (more than 10,000 years before the domestication of horses and ruminants).
Scientists believe that when the megafauna started dying because of climate change, the dire wolf had trouble competing with the gray wolf when it came to catching smaller prey. Thus, the species went extinct.
The dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus /iːˈnɒsaɪ.ɒn ˈdaɪrəs/) is an extinct canine.
Where did the lion come from? Lions, and all members of the cat family, are believed to be descended from a common ancestor, called Proailurus Lemanensis which means simply 'first cat', a cat-like creature that stalked the Earth 25 million years ago.
Yes, wolves and domestic dogs can breed and produce fertile offspring.