Where Humans Changed Wolves into Dogs: Man's Best Friend Evolved in Asia

The origins of man's best friend may be in Central Asia. Researchers have found that the first dogs may have been domesticated near present-day Nepal and Mongolia.

The dogs of today are extremely varied. However, all of them are thought to have evolved from the Eurasian gray wolf at least 15,000 years ago. The precise timing and location of dog domestication, though, has long been debated.

Most dogs are neither purebred nor mixed-breed. Instead, they belong to a geographically widespread, genetically diverse group called village dogs. In order to uncover the early origin and spread of dogs, the researchers analyzed more than 185,800 genetic markers in the autosomes, Y chromosomes, and mitochondrial DNA of more than 4,600 purebred dogs of 165 breeds and 540 village dogs from 38 countries.

So what did they find? The analysis showed that there was a higher genetic diversity in village dogs than purebred dogs. This suggests that dogs were likely domesticated in Central Asia.

Many populations in Egypt, Vietnam and India showed few signs of European admixture. However, village dogs in the South Pacific and Neotropics showed predominantly European origins.

It's likely that domesticated dogs originated in Central Asia and spread to East Asia and beyond. This genetic analysis can actually supplement ancient DNA analysis in efforts at uncovering the precise time and place of dog domestication and evolution.

The findings reveal a bit more about dogs and show that it's quite possible that these animals first emerged from Asia and then spread through the rest of the world.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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