Wolf DNA in Dogs: New Research Reveals Canine Ancestry
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Dogs Still Carry the Wolf Within: New Research Reveals Surprising Ancestry
New findings from scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian’s National museum of Natural History show that most dogs alive today retain small but measurable amounts of wolf ancestry that developed after domestication. These lingering wolf genes appear to have influenced characteristics such as body size, scent abilities, and aspects of behavior. The research, published on November 24 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicates that this subtle gene flow may help dogs succeed in many different human environments. The team reports that post-domestication wolf ancestry occurs across a broad range of breeds, from the large Shiloh shepherd to the tiny chihuahua.
“Modern dogs, especially pet dogs, can seem so removed from wolves, which are ofen demonized,” said the study’s led author Audrey Lin, a Gerstner Postdoctoral Scholar in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the American Museum of natural History. “But there are some characteristics that may have come from wolves that we greatly value in dogs today and that we choose to keep in their lineage. This is a study about dogs, but in a lot of ways, it’s telling us about wolves.”
Ancient Origins and Limited Hybridization
Dogs trace their origins to an extinct population of gray wolves that evolved alongside humans during the late pleistocene about 20,000 years ago. Although wolves and dogs still share territory and are capable of producing fertile offspring, actual hybridization between them is unusual.Except for a few purposeful crosses, researchers have found little evidence of genetic mixing after domestication established separate lineages.
“Prior to this study, the leading science seemed to suggest that in order for a dog to be a dog, there can’t be very much wolf DNA present, if any,” Lin said. “But we found if you look very closely in modern dog