Today, many of the dogs you know and love are the product of selective breeding between individuals with desirable traits, either physical or behavioral. All of this is thought to have unfolded over thousands of years. Later still, those wolves may have been welcomed into the human home and eventually bred to encourage certain traits. Many generations later, humans might have encouraged wolves to stay near by actively feeding them. Perhaps wolves started down this path simply by eating human scraps. While it’s impossible to say exactly how a wild wolf species became a domesticated dog, most scientists believe the process happened gradually as wolves became more comfortable with humans. When dogs broke off from their wild ancestors is also a matter of mystery, but genetics suggest that it occurred between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago. However, scientists are still working to understand exactly what species gave rise to dogs. In fact, DNA evidence suggests that the now-extinct wolf ancestor to modern dogs was Eurasian. Evolutionary originsĪll dogs descend from a species of wolf, but not the gray wolf ( Canis lupus), like many people assume. This makes the domestic dog the most popular pet on the planet. A third of all households worldwide have a dog, according to a 2016 consumer insights study. This separates domestic dogs from wild canines, such as coyotes, foxes, and wolves.ĭomestic dogs are mostly kept as pets, though many breeds are capable of surviving on their own, whether it’s in a forest or on city streets. While these animals vary drastically in appearance, every dog-from the Chihuahua to the Great Dane-is a member of the same species, Canis familiaris. The term “domestic dog” refers to any of several hundred breeds of dog in the world today. Current Population Trend: Unknown What is a domestic dog?

Muzzle for humans