Meet the Oldest Dog on Earth

This skull fossil was discovered in 1975, but only recently was it linked to modern-day canines.

In 1975, Russian archaeologists, in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, unearthed a 33,000-year-old fossil skull that resembled that of a wolf.

So they assumed it was that of a wolf. 

Turns out it's not a wolf. It's a dog. 

And so the Champagne corks are popping in at the Russian Academy of Sciences, which made the discovery, and especially in the office of Anna Druzhkova, who led the team. The results were published this week in the journal PLOS ONE. 

To come to the finding, according to an article at Smithsonian.com, the team "sequenced mitochondrial DNA taken from one of the skull’s teeth" and compared it "with samples from 70 different modern breeds of dog, along with 30 different wolf and four different coyote DNA samples."

What did they find? Dog -- 33,000-year-old dog. Specifically, the DNA shared the most characteristics with Tibetian Mastiffs, Newfoundlands, and Siberian Huskies. 

So, if you have one of those dogs, you just got cooler, thanks to Anna Druzhkova. 

However, this whole dating-modern-dogs thing has been endlessly troublesome -- and this finding doesn't really help things. 

"Scientists know that dogs evolved as a result of the domestication of wolves," says the article, "but the specific time and location of this domestication is still poorly understood -- and this discovery further complicates that picture." 

How so? "Dogs may have been domesticated from wolves multiple times, and this breed of Siberian dog may have actually gone extinct, rather than serving as an ancestor for modern dogs."

Okay, fine. It might not be First Dog. But this also mixes up where scientists believe domestication first occurred, as this finding points to the "geographic spread" of dogs throughout Asia and Europe. Previously, scientists believed domestication occurred in the Middle East or East Asia.

"This skull could force scientists to rethink their theories," says the article.  

This DNA analysis does, however, set the age of modern dogs at 33,000 years. Previous DNA analysis of a different finding put the date at 16,000 years ago. That always seemed a bit thin to us. 

Via Smithsonian.com

View the original article here

Oldest dog ever was nobody’s pet

In keeping with the spirit of my pal Kim paying tribute to the amazing Bella, you’ll appreciate this AP story about a much older pooch. Samuel Belknap III is a graduate student at the University of Maine. He found a bone fragment that came from a dig in Texas in the 1970's. The bone was carbon dated at 9,400 years, and DNA testing confirmed it came from a dog. That makes it the oldest confirmed remains of a domesticated dog (not a wolf) found on an American continent. However, there are some details about just where the bone was found.

Because it was found deep inside a pile of human excrement and was the characteristic orange-brown color that bone turns when it has passed through the digestive tract, the fragment provides the earliest direct evidence that dogs — besides being used for company, security and hunting — were eaten by humans and may even have been bred as a food source, he said.

Belknap wasn’t researching dogs when he found the bone. Rather, he was looking into the diet and nutrition of the people who lived in the Lower Pecos region of Texas between 1,000 and 10,000 years ago.

“It just so happens this person who lived 9,400 years ago was eating dog,” Belknap said.

Belknap and other researchers from the University of Maine and the University of Oklahoma’s molecular anthropology laboratories, where the DNA analysis was done, have written a paper on their findings.

See Bella? You’re not really old.

Progress in Austin: Speaking of amazing doings in Texas, Nathan Winograd‘s latest blog post spotlights the about face that’s taken place in Austin. A change in the political winds led to a change in philosophy on how Austinites treated animals.

Almost immediately, everything changed in Austin. Today, animals are no longer killed while the cages sit empty. The staff is no longer “too busy” to do adoptions because they are busy killing them in the back. And today, kittens go home alive. No injecting “sodium pentobarbital, an anesthetic agent blue as a summer sky” directly into their “round, spotted bellies.” No more “squealing in their terror.” No more “wooziness” and “stumbling around.” No more “tasting the chemical absorbed into its system.” No more collapsing. No more death for the crime of being a kitten in Austin, Texas—a kitten unfortunate enough to enter a pound dominated by people—cold, heartless, uncaring people—who found killing easier to do than what was necessary to stop it.

In December, almost nine out of ten animals went out the front door, to rescue groups, back to the people looking for them, in the loving arms of families; rather than out the back door in body bags. And Town Lake Animal Center is closer than at any time in its history to earning the distinction, the privilege, the right to be honestly called a “shelter” rather than a “pound.” Today, Austin, Texas is on the verge of becoming a No Kill community.

They have great live music and terrific barbeque, too.

No more tethering in the Big Apple: The Wall Street Journal tells us New York’s  City Council has finally prohibited dogs being tethered outside for excessive blocks of time. More than three hours in a twelve hour period? Not any more. At the end of the story, though, there’s another piece of news that didn’t make the headline:

The lawmakers also approved a bill that raises license fees for dogs that haven’t been neutered from $11.50 to $34.

According to my calculator, that’s an increase of 300 percent.

The return of Mister Peabody! I know I’m dating myself a bit, but when I was a kid, one of my favorite cartoon shows was Rocky and Bullwinkle. And do you remember who was featured along with Moose and Squirrel? Sherman and Mister Peabody — the smartest dog this side of Snoopy. Well, Dreamworks Animation is bringing the Wayback Machine to the big screen. And guess who’s going to be the voice of Mister Peabody? None other than the actor who has played Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chaplin: Robert Downey, Jr. According to Entertainment Weekly, you need to be patient– the movie isn’t due out until 2014.

Hypnos: My friend Tom clued me into this listing on Etsy for Hypnos the Kitty.

Finally…the Bobcats: it’s time for another big bowl of Oatmeal!

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credit: Hinds Cave, AP Photo/Samuel Belknap III. Sherman, Peabody and Downey: Everett Collection; PRN/PR Photos.

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