Wolves Domesticated Themselves Into Dogs To Have Easy Access To Food: Study

Wolves may have domesticated themselves into early dogs to have easy access to food, thousands of years ago, a new study has claimed. These wolves may have introduced their mates to the easygoing lifestyle -- effectively domesticating themselves into dogs through natural selection. Though the theory hasn't been floated for the first time, the new study states that domestication was a two-way street where humans did not impose themselves on other organisms. Instead, both species came closer together and forged one of the best friendships in modern human history.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests that dogs (Canis familiaris) descended from gray wolves (Canis lupus) and became domesticated over two historical periods: between about 30,000 and 15,000 years ago.

From around 15,000 years ago, these dogs became differentiated into breeds, primarily due to artificial selection as humans chose tame wolves and purposely bred them with the least-wild animals together.

Mathematical model

To quell criticism about the self-domestication hypothesis, the study used mathematical models to find how long it would take for speciation -- a new, separate doggie species to occur among a pack of ancient wolf scavengers.

The model showed that over 15,000 years, natural selection could potentially drive dog self-domestication. However, for it to happen, two conditions had to be met, as per study co-author Alex Capaldi. The wolves had to choose to stay near humans to eat food scraps, and secondly, they had to select mates with a similar temperament.

"When females were selecting mates, they also had to select males that had a similar tameness to themselves. So if both of those processes are in play, then it is possible for the self-domestication hypothesis to beat the time constraint critique," Mr Capaldi was quoted as saying by LiveScience.

In several models, early dogs separated from their ancient wolf species 37 percent of the time. If the scavenging animals preferred other tamer animals as mates, they formed packs of early dogs 74 percent of the time.