By Steve Gorman
From French poodles to German shepherds, domestic dogs likely trace most of their ancestry to the Middle East, as opposed to East Asian origins suggested by previous research, a genetic study reported on Wednesday.
The findings, published in the online edition of the scientific journal Nature, support an archaeological record that closely links the domestication of dogs in the Middle East with the rise of human civilization there, scientists said.
“It’s significant because this is where civilization developed, and dogs were part of that,” said Robert Wayne, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a senior author of the study.
Continue reading Dogs Domesticated In Middle East, Not Asia
