"From two-pound Chihuahuas to 150-pound Newfoundlands, chunky Labradors to slender Vizlas, our canine companions are some of the most physically diverse mammals on the planet. It's commonly believed that this vast range in physical attributes is a product of the Victorian era, when kennel clubs started selectively breeding dogs to produce certain characteristics roughly 200 years ago. A new analysis of hundreds of prehistoric canine skulls, spanning the last 50,000 years, shows it emerged much earlier."
""By about 10,000 years ago, half of the amount of diversity present in modern dogs was already present in the Neolithic," said Carly Ameen, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Exeter and one of the lead authors on the new study. "So very early on in our relationship with dogs, we not only change them from wolves but they begin to change amongst themselves and generate a lot of diversity.""
"To determine when those changes happened, Ameen and a team of international researchers created 3D models of 643 skulls of ancient and modern dogs and wolves. The models allowed them to discern subtle changes in the skulls' shape over time. The results, published in the journal Science, show that by nearly 11,000 years ago, just after the last ice age, dog skulls were already different from those of wolves. They were shorter and wider."
3D models of 643 ancient and modern dog and wolf skulls spanning the last 50,000 years were analyzed to track skull-shape change. By nearly 11,000 years ago, just after the last ice age, dog skulls were already shorter and wider than wolf skulls. By about 10,000 years ago, roughly half of the diversity seen in modern dogs was present in the Neolithic. Dog skulls from that period already differed from each other, showing that domestication and subsequent diversification began well before Victorian-era selective breeding and unfolded gradually rather than instantaneously.
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