Thursday, January 24, 2013

Dog evolved 'on the waste dump

Anyone who owns a dog knows that it will rummage around in the kitchen bin looking for food, given half a chance. But this annoying behaviour may have a more profound undercurrent than we realise, according to scientists. A new study of dog genetics reveals numerous genes involved in starch metabolism, compared with wolves. It backs an idea that some dogs emerged from wolves that were able to scavenge and digest the food waste of early farmers, the team tells Nature journal. 
By Jonathan Amos / BBC News / more

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1 comment:

parlance said...

Interesting.
Slavenka, the link 'more' doesn't work.