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Dogs: the first domesticated animal
by c. 15,000 years ago; perhaps earlier (debated)· Organism or group· Animals
DebatedScientists disagree about when, how or why.
Dogs descend from ice-age wolves and were the first domesticated species, tamed by hunter-gatherers long before farming.
See it on the Life map →What happened
Dogs descend from ancient wolf populations that are now extinct, not from today's gray wolves. Genetics suggests domestication began roughly 23,000–15,000 years ago, perhaps in Siberia, as wolves scavenged near camps and the tamest thrived, or as people raised pups. A dog buried with two people at Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany, about 14,200 years ago had been nursed through canine distemper. Dogs went with people into the Americas and around the world.
Why it matters
Dogs became hunting partners, guards, herders and companions, and show that domestication began as a partnership with hunters, not as part of farming.
The evidence (fossils, genes, rocks)
Dated dog burials such as Bonn-Oberkassel, skull-shape studies, and ancient DNA from dozens of dog and wolf genomes, which trace dogs to ice-age wolves distinct from living ones.
Still debated
Where and when dogs were first tamed, whether once or twice, and whether claimed dog skulls over 30,000 years old, such as Goyet in Belgium, were early dogs or unusual wolves.
Connections (2)
▸Dogs: the first domesticated animal were domesticated from wolves by Homo sapiensWell established
The connection
Dogs were domesticated by ice-age hunter-gatherers of our own species, not by Neanderthals. Wolves that tolerated people may have scavenged around camps, and people may have raised pups. Over generations, tamer animals bred more successfully and changed physically: smaller teeth and skulls, floppy ears, curled tails and, later, extra genes for digesting starch.
When and how
Somewhere in Eurasia, roughly 23,000–15,000 years ago; one leading study points to Siberia, where people and wolves were isolated during the ice-age peak.
The evidence
Ancient DNA from dog and wolf genomes, and dogs buried with people, such as at Bonn-Oberkassel in Germany about 14,200 years ago.
Debates and open questions
Whether people or wolves started the relationship, and whether dogs arose once or in two places, such as East Asia and Europe.
▸Dogs: the first domesticated animal preceded Agriculture beginsStrong evidence
The connection
Dogs were domesticated thousands of years before any crop or farm animal, by hunters rather than farmers. They showed that people could tame and breed another species, and later helped herd and guard flocks. As farming spread, many dogs adapted to farm diets, gaining extra copies of a gene for digesting starch.
When and how
Dogs by about 15,000 years ago or earlier in Eurasia; the first crops about 11,500 years ago in the Fertile Crescent.
How sure are we?
Dated dog burials older than any farming site; dog genomes show extra copies of the starch-digesting AMY2B gene that became common with farming.
Debates and open questions
Whether experience with dogs actually helped people domesticate other animals, or the two were simply unrelated steps.