The Origin of the Dog Revisited

The most widely accepted hypothesis of the origin of the dog, Canis familiaris, is that the dog is a domesticated gray wolf, Canis lupus. This paper reviews the evidence for this conclusion, finds many unanswered questions and conceptual gaps in the wolf origin hypothesis, and explores the alternati...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Janice Koler-matznick
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.529.5548
http://www.newguinea-singing-dog-conservation.org/Tidbits/OriginOfTheDog.pdf
Description
Summary:The most widely accepted hypothesis of the origin of the dog, Canis familiaris, is that the dog is a domesticated gray wolf, Canis lupus. This paper reviews the evidence for this conclusion, finds many unanswered questions and conceptual gaps in the wolf origin hypothesis, and explores the alternative hypothesis that the most likely ancestor of the domestic dog was a medium-size, generalist canid.