Three Dog Eves: Canine diaspora from East Asia to Americas
By Susan Milius
Two genetic studies have just rewritten the history of humanity’s best friend. The new version has moved the origins of the domestic dog from the Middle East to East Asia and argues that the first people to venture into the Americas brought their dogs with them.
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Analysis of 654 dogs from around the world suggests that their earliest female ancestors originated from several lineages of wolves primarily in one region, says Peter Savolainen of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The patterns of genetic diversity point to East Asia as the likeliest place for the canine Eden, Savolainen and his colleagues argue in the Nov. 22 Science.