# Dogs Make Us Human



## Royce (Nov 5, 2010)

Dogs are often referred to as 'man's best friend', but the relationship between man and dog may be much more important than we realize. Research just completed suggests that dogs and humans co-evolved - we've certainly changed them to suit us, but they may have changed us too. It's possible that dogs actually helped form the modern human being.



Nature Australia article


In our segment Don spoke with Dr. Paul Taçon, Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum. He is co-author (with Dr. Colin Pardoe) of an article in Nature Australia magazine titled 'Dogs Make Us Human', which examines the many ways we have been influenced by dogs.

Paul explained that it's only in the last decade or so that the history of dogs and humans worldwide has been critically examined. While the archaeological evidence suggests that dogs have been widespread for about 14,000 years, recent genetic and fossil evidence suggests they may have been around for over 100,000 years. Some researchers are arguing that dogs may have been with us throughout the whole critical period of our development, and that the dog actually helped turn us into modern humans both anatomically and behaviorally.*



Man meets dog

The amazing relationship between man and dog probably began when wolves hung around early human camps scavenging for food scraps. They may have tagged along when the humans went on hunting trips, and helped to sniff out and chase down prey. They would also have guarded the camp, and warned of the approach of predators and enemies. The early humans may have reared puppies and started to breed them selectively, eventually leading to the emergence of the dog all over the world in the many forms we know today.*



Goodbye Neanderthals

Cohabitation with dogs would have improved the chances of survival for early humans, and given them a competitive advantage. There is no evidence that Neanderthals had dogs, which could explain why Neanderthals became extinct and not us. Taçon and his colleagues argue that living with dogs has had profound effects on human psychology, hunting practices, territoriality and social behavior. They say that soon after wolves/dogs began to live with humans, we learnt to hunt big game in packs. This is a distinctive wolf behavioral trait and there is no evidence of it among pre-sapiens groups. It's also possible that humans learnt a bit about the nature of territory by watching wolves mark their territory with urine. The archaeological record shows that humans began to mark their territories with hand prints and stencils, grooves in rock and finger impressions in clay. Engraved and painted pictures became common about 40,000 years ago. These are different to the simple markings earlier humans made.



The relationship continues

The modern dog is still our best friend. There are guide dogs for the blind, hearing dogs for the deaf and therapy dogs for the infirm. In fact, many studies have shown how elderly and disabled people survive much better with a dog as a companion. The long, close relationship man has had with the dog continues today. Dogs and humans still interact, and possibly still transform and change each other.



The adage that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks may be the wrong way round.

It could have been that new tricks were taught to people by dogs more than 100,000 years ago, prompting humankind to take a leap in development leading to modern culture and society, Australia-based researchers said Tuesday.

``We believe there were several forces that led to the development of anatomically and behaviorally modern humans, and that the close relationship between our human ancestors and wolves was one of the key factors,'' Paul Tacon, principal research scientist at the Australian Museum, told Reuters.

Tacon and bio-archaeology consultant Colin Pardoe published the theory Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Australia.

At the heart of their contention that the ancestors of man's best friend were instrumental in helping humans to survive and thrive is what they call growing archaeological and genetic evidence that the partnership went back at least 100,000 to 130,000 years -- far longer than conventionally thought.

TERRITORIALISM A DOG THING

Tacon said modern man's strong territorialism is not shared by other primates. However, wolves and dogs have always been ferociously territorial. This quality may have rubbed off after generations of living together.

Rock art or stenciled outlines of hands could have been ancient man's means of marking his territory, in much the same way as a dog marks his with urine.

As man's sense of smell diminished, possibly because we began to rely on domesticated wolves, a visual and more durable way of staking out territory would have been a logical alternative to scent-based markings.

``Eventually this led to the development of all sorts of figurative art around 40,000 years ago,'' Tacon said.

Big game hunting would have been easier with some cooperation from wolves. By pursuing big game, man was able to survive in less friendly environments and occupy deserts and the Arctic.

Of perhaps greatest significance is the theory that learning how to get on with and then domesticate wolves could also have taught humans how to develop relationships with other humans.

Primates are naturally good at infant-mother relationships but do not tend toward a strong ability for same sex ties.

Tacon and Pardoe argue that the human-canine partnership potentially paved the way for friendly contact between humans.

``That was a tremendous survival advantage because that speeds up the exchange of ideas between groups of people, the exchange of material culture and of course gene flow,'' Tacon said.

``Through cooperation we've achieved incredible feats, we've been able to reach the moon for instance.''



MORE THAN JUST A GOOD FRIEND

The idea that man may owe his best friend more than we acknowledge needs a lot more study, the researchers say.

Until recently, it was thought that dogs were domesticated only 14,000 years ago. Wolf bones found near human bones dating back 400,000 years in Britain, 300,000 years in China and 150,000 years in France were dismissed as signs that we used to eat them.

But Tacon said there were gaps in our understanding of human development that might be answered by raising new questions.

``We're looking at the past from a new perspective,'' he said.

``If we can bring more and more perspectives to bear on our interpretation of the past, we'll have a closer approximation of exactly what was going on.''


----------



## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

Interesting read thanks for sharing.


----------



## k8nkane (Jul 9, 2010)

_Tacon said modern man's strong territorialism is not shared by other primates. _

What about chimpanzees though? They have territories and defend them vigorously, even conducting raiding parties against other chimpanzee's territories.


----------



## william williamson (Feb 26, 2006)

k8nkane said:


> _Tacon said modern man's strong territorialism is not shared by other primates. _
> 
> What about chimpanzees though? They have territories and defend them vigorously, even conducting raiding parties against other chimpanzee's territories.


man,I jumped also when I read that.jane Goodall in Tanzania immidately came to mind.through the years I've read several of her pieces,and the topic of territory came up.and Diane Fossey's work in Rwanda with the Ape.
what about the lion clan of the Mara who've been there for as long as man can remember.
we see it with bears,in the alaskan outback and their feeding territories.
and birds who nest in the same region year after year.the monarch butterfly and it's nesting in the Michoacan valley.
it leaves something to be said about the research and study.


----------



## johnthan (Dec 1, 2010)

*Dogs Make Us Human.............*

see if they have a website and look at it and see what you think. Maybe leave them there for a weekend and see how it goes.

-------------
dog carriers


----------

