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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-22/dog-domestication-much-older-than-previously-thought/6489736

Siberian wolf bone shows dog domestication much older than previously thought, researchers say

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Dogs may have been man's best friend as early as 40,000 years ago, according to new research.

Modern dog breeds from the Chihuahua to the Great Dane are believed to have descended from wild wolves domesticated by humans in prehistoric times, but when this took place has been a matter of debate.

Previous research based on genetic data from modern-day wolves and dogs estimated dogs were first domesticated 11,000 to 16,000 years ago based on an estimate of how quickly mutations occurred across the genome.

But recent genetic information from a 35,000-year-old wolf bone fragment, likely part of a rib, found below a frozen cliff in Siberia has shown canine domestication may have occurred much earlier.

The wolf's genome has shown it belonged to a population which likely represented the most recent common ancestor between dogs and wolves.

From this, scientists have estimated dog domestication in fact occurred between 27,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Swedish Museum of Natural History geneticist Love Dalén, who found the wolf bone fragment, said the new information showed the rate of mutation was only about half of what previously had been assumed, indicating domestication occurred much earlier.

He believed the wolf likely belonged to a population which roamed the Eurasian steppe-tundra during the last ice age, hunting large prey like bison, musk ox and horses.

"I think one of the simplest explanations is that hunter-gatherers may have caught wolf pups, which is extremely easy to do, and kept them in captivity as sentinels against the large predators that roamed the landscapes of the last ice age - bears, cave lions, ... mammoths, woolly rhinos [and] other humans," Mr Dalén said.

Harvard Medical School geneticist Pontus Skoglund said the new research provided valuable insight into dog domestication.

"The difference between the earlier genetic studies and ours is that we can calibrate the rate of evolutionary change in dog and wolf genomes directly, and we find that the first separation of dog ancestors must have been in the older range," he said.

He added that Siberian Huskies and Greenland sled dogs shared a large number of genes with the Taimyr wolf.

"The most likely explanation is that the Siberian domestic dog populations interbred with local wolves when they followed early human groups into northern latitudes," he said.

The research has been published in the Current Biology journal.

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