Science

Judi Lynn

(160,542 posts) Sat Jun 27, 2020, 02:25 PM Jun 2020

Sled dogs are closely related to 9,500-year-old 'ancient dog'

Date:
June 25, 2020
Source:
University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Summary:
Sled dogs are much older and have adapted to Arctic conditions much earlier than previously thought. Researchers show that ancestors of modern sled dogs have worked and lived with humans for over 9,500 years.

Sled dogs (stock image).
Credit: © murmakova / stock.adobe.com

Sledge dogs are much older and have adapted to Arctic conditions much earlier than previously thought. In a new study from the QIMMEQ project, researchers from the University of Copenhagen show that ancestors of modern sledge dogs have worked and lived with humans for over 9,500 years.

Dogs play an important role in human life all over the world -- whether as a family member or as a working animal. But where the dog comes from and how old various groups of dogs are is still a bit of a mystery.

Now, light has been shed on the origin of the sledge dog. In a new study published in SCIENCE, researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, show that the sledge dog is both older and has adapted to the Arctic much earlier than thought. The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Greenland and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Barcelona.

"We have extracted DNA from a 9,500-year-old dog from the Siberian island of Zhokhov, which the dog is named after. Based on that DNA we have sequenced the oldest complete dog genome to date, and the results show an extremely early diversification of dogs into types of sledge dogs," says one of the two first authors of the study, PhD student Mikkel Sinding, the Globe Institute.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200625144816.htm