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Are dogs descended from wolves?

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In 1999, a study emphasized that while molecular genetic data seem to support the origin of dogs from wolves, dogs may have descended from a now extinct species of canid whose closest living relative was the wolf. The dog's lineage may have been contributed to from a ghost population. read more

Dogs were man’s best friend as far back as the Ice Age and dogs and humans first bonded between 19,000 and 30,000 years ago, according to a study published in November. That was when wolves, ancestors of domestic dogs living today, were first tamed by ancient hunter gatherers, according to genetic evidence. read more

The dog is a genetically divergent subspecies of the gray wolf, with substantial divergence between the dog lineages as nearly as distinct from one another as wolves are from dogs, which may reflect more admixture and wolf ancestry retained in their genome. read more

Scientists once thought that dogs descended from gray wolves. Now, through genetic studies, researchers know that dogs and wolves share a common ancestor instead of a direct lineage. Their common ancestor was a prehistoric wolf that lived in Europe or Asia anywhere between 9,000 to 34,000 years ago, according to various studies. read more

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