OXFORD, ENGLAND—The mitochondrial DNA of ancient North American dogs has not been found in any other canines, according to a report in Science Magazine. A genetic study of dogs who lived in North America and Siberia between 1,000 and 10,000 years ago found that the genetic signature of the ancient American dogs most closely resembles that of 9,000-year-old dogs from Russia’s Zhokhov Island, which lies north of the Siberian mainland. A study of dogs’ nuclear DNA also supports the idea that ancient North American dogs were genetically distinct from today’s animals, but related to Arctic breeds like Alaskan malamutes and Siberian huskies. Evolutionary geneticist Laurent Frantz of the University of Oxford suggests the rate of genetic mutation indicates ancient North American dogs and ancient Siberian dogs shared an ancestor some 16,000 years ago, or about the time when humans were migrating into North America. Dogs may have traveled to the New World with humans, or they may have crossed the land bridge from Siberia into North America on their own at a later date, but before the land bridge disappeared some 11,000 years ago. Zooarchaeologist Angela Perri of Durham University said the first North American dogs were likely wiped out by diseases brought to the New World by the dogs of European explorers, or may have been killed off by wary Europeans who were frightened by their wolf-like appearance. To read more about the archaeology of dogs, go to "More Than Man's Best Friend."
