Feature Animals

Year in Review: Canine genealogy

Competing clues confuse story of dog domestication

WOLF DOG  Genetic analyses of various populations of living wolves from around the world suggest that modern dogs descend from a species of wolf that is now extinct.

Dobak/Flickr

By Meghan Rosen

- More than 2 years ago

18

The ancient lineage of man’s best friend is kind of a tangled mess. But scientists made some progress this year in identifying dogs’ ancestors and in estimating the timeline of canine domestication.