DURHAM, ENGLAND—According to a CNN report, dogs were likely domesticated in Siberia and northeast Asia some 23,000 years ago, before they traveled with humans west into Eurasia and east into the Americas across the Bering land bridge more than 15,000 years ago, based upon a review of genetic and archaeological evidence. Angela Perri of Durham University and an international team of researchers suggest that harsh, cold, and dry climate conditions may have drawn people and wolves together as they pursued the same prey. “Wolves likely learned that scavenging from humans regularly was an easy free meal, while humans allowed this to happen so long as wolves were not aggressive or threatening,” Perri explained. Dogs may have also helped early migrants transport their gear, in addition to serving as hunting companions and occasional sources of food and fur. Today’s Arctic dogs, she notes, are descended from a different lineage than early American dogs. For more, go to "The American Canine Family Tree."
