Dogs 10,000 Years Ago
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free how scared would a modern
inhabitant of planet Earth be if he met
one of these ancient relatives of the
dog amphitheater on a dark night
also known as the bear dog these
creatures possessed frightening
dimensions with a length of 2.5 meters
that’s an astounding almost eight and a
half feet long and a weight of 500
kilograms that’s a gargantuan 1,100
pounds or roughly half a ton this beast
was really creepy and scary as heck
imagine this monster is something like
what you would get if you put a bear’s
head on the body of a giant dog with
jaws they could easily chomp right
through the bones of large animals this
is exactly how the bear dog looked
perhaps fortunately for us but
definitely sad for them the bear dog
disappeared from the face of the earth 9
million years ago long before the
appearance of Homo sapiens perhaps if
our ancestors had had the opportunity to
encounter such a creature they would
have been much less likely to have had
the idea to try to tame wolves into dogs
I must mention that despite the obvious
similarity to a dog and the presence of
a common ancestor the bear dog is still
not a mainline direct ancestor of our
modern pit bulls and chihuahuas but then
which animal is it might be that the
role of the forefather of all dogs is no
less impressive a beast than the dire
wolf so scientists named this largest
predator of the canine family and not
for the sake of wit but in all
seriousness because of its great size
about two meters or almost six and a
half feet in length and 70 kilograms or
about 155 pounds in weight it was not
quite as fast
didn’t have the dexterity of modern
wolves however its massive muscles and
huge deadly sharp canines turned this
dire wolf into a ruthless killing
machine able to easily take down a
mastodon or even a giant sloth this
monster only died out about 16,000 years
ago so interaction with Homo sapiens was
inescapable alas this did not end in
interspecies friendship later the
traditional gray wolf appeared on the
scene which man did eventually managed
to tame gradually turning this
heretofore wild animal into what we now
know as the domestic dog or so everyone
thought until recently but before
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and now back to our intriguing mystery
the origin of our pet dog says coming
from wolves has for quite some time been
considered as an undisputed truth
authorities on this matter
explain this sequence of events thusly
ancient peoples picked up some wolf
puppies somewhere raised them for their
own needs and as a result this spirited
predator became an affectionate and
obedient animal but a group of American
geneticists now has a different opinion
these scientists analyst
the genomes of more than one and a half
thousand dogs belonging to 161 different
breeds as it turns out
despite the external differences the dog
studied were all basically the same
genetically however surprisingly no
close genetic link was found with wolves
such a turn of events led researchers to
the idea that these animals at some
point developed separately from each
other naturally and can be referred to
as distant cousins descended from some
common progenitor of the predatory
mammals in short these scientists
suggests that man has never tamed the
wolf but immediately took up the
domestication of the dog and the
misconceptions regarding the heretofore
proposed ultimate genetic paternity
provided by wolves are explained by the
fact that even those separate species
these animals sometimes made it
confusing geneticists all over the world
the oldest dog known to science whose
remains were found in present-day
Belgium lived some thirty one thousand
seven hundred years ago in appearance
it’s somewhat resembles a Siberian Husky
only with a size somewhat closer to that
of a large Shepherd and with slightly
enlarged teeth with which it nod on the
carcasses of musk oxen horses and deer
whether it had a master who walked their
anti blue V and pet out the front door
of their cave every morning is still
unknown as for the timing of exactly
when domestication occurred scientists
simply cannot agree referring to a range
of different time intervals from between
ten to forty thousand years ago but the
most interesting thing is how this
friendship between man and dog began
indeed many scholars believe that people
didn’t simply tame our four-fingered
friends they were domesticated some of
these puppies learned that they didn’t
have to compete with Homo sapiens for
prey a young pup perhaps quickly learned
that it was much easy
– just wag its tail drop its ears and
show its human caregiver that it was
ready to carry out commands and lo and
behold its master would then give their
newfound canine Chum everything it
wanted
thus tens of thousands of years ago dogs
began to help people hunt game and graze
cattle protecting the ladder from other
predators over time our ancestors when
breeding dogs learned how to select for
the more desirable or useful qualities
and such animals thanks to this for
example in ancient Egypt some early
hunting dogs were bred to have vastly
superior speed allowing them to catch
the fast and elusive gazelle in another
ancient state Rome people decided to
extend the functionality of the dog
turning these pets from hunters
shepherds and Watchmen into real
fighters these military dogs were hit
against a variety of wild animals often
turning the entire affair into a royal
bloody mess however with the fall of the
Roman Empire the animals became wild
terrifying local people’s and giving
rise to many myths and legends regarding
the so called werewolves it wouldn’t be
surprising if the doggy heroes of this
ancient lore might be representatives of
the giant Tibetan Mastiff breed the
first recorded references – which date
back to 1120 1 BC once the dog finally
found its way to the British Isles this
Tibetan giant eventually dropped its
thick coat of fur and turned into the
more well-known English Mastiff the
largest breed of dog in the world today
the height of this champ
at the withers that is from the pause to
the highest point on its spine often
reaches 90 centimeters or about 35
inches
that’s almost a yard and the mass of
this gargantuan feast regularly reaches
over 100 kilograms or 220 pounds but a
famous English Mastiff named Zorba
really outdid himself triumphing with
2.5 meters or 8.2 feet in length 94
centimeters or 37 inches at the withers
with this amazing canine weighing in at
the time of the record a little more
than 155 kilograms or 343 pounds his
record remains unbeaten to this day this
English breed of giants must however
share its place of honor with another
Colossus the Great Dane this is due to
its height which at the withers can also
reach an astounding 90 centimeters or 3
feet
that’s one seriously big bitch and yet
some German record breakers beat even
this height with a couple of pooches
named Zeus and George who exceeded even
the 1 meter mark unfortunately it’s no
longer possible to even take a photo
with these wonderful world-famous
gigantic dogs as these champions left
this mortal coil at a fairly young age
such as sudden death among these hero
dogs is quite a common phenomenon
according to one doctor Cornelia Kraus
from the University of göttingen after
analyzing information on dogs from 74
different breeds dr. Krauss came to the
conclusion that the reasons for this are
just the same for all of our four footed
friends
according to the assumptions of the
researcher life expectancy can even be
calculated for every two kilograms of
animal mass we must – one month from
their potential lifespan
according to dr. Krauss another enemy of
these giant breeds is cancer the higher
occurrence of which is explained by the
accelerated growth of these dogs and
accordingly their early aging which
leads to the development of abnormal
cells thousands of years of living side
by side with people has led not only to
external changes for our furry canine
pals these lovely and fascinating
creatures have also undergone some
changes to their intellectual abilities
surely many of us would love to hear
about the special mental capabilities of
our dogs but they are not really quite
as smart as we had previously assumed a
scientist by the name of Britta Aust
house has done a meta-analysis
evaluating 300 studies regarding the
intelligence of animals
she found that hyenas raccoons and
dolphins perform many tasks much better
than domestic dogs due to our great love
for these faithful creatures even
scientists tend to put more emphasis on
dog research exaggerating its merits
while often under estimating the rest of
the animal world in fact a dog doesn’t
really need to undertake such strenuous
mental efforts as it’s often enough for
it to simply gaze with canine compassion
into the eyes of its master who has no
choice but to immediately fulfil their
devious pet’s desire however we must not
allow such arguments to make us less
loved our funny
furry friends after all this love is
mutual
in fact these feelings take place at a
hormonal level when a master Homo
sapiens and a dutiful canine familiaris
look at each other a small release of
oxytocin occurs
this is the hormone responsible for
trust and affection the whole mystery of
this amazing friendship between man and
dog has still not been solved as in the
natural world this connection no longer
exists however the very existence of a
creature they can love us human beings
more than they love themselves is really
worth appreciating and we cannot forget
that this most devoted companion has
been wagging his tail in friendship with
us for more than 10,000 years if you
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