When did human ancestors begin to domesticate dogs?

Cats and dogs are common pets in modern families and have been deeply integrated into people's daily lives and become indispensable family members. However, looking back to ancient times, the original intention of domesticating these animals was very different from modern pet culture. Today, let's explore the original intention of the ancients to domesticate dogs, especially why dogs were not domesticated for the purpose of eating.

01 Why did the ancients domesticate dogs?

Although dogs can be eaten, their main function is not to be eaten. The main purpose of dogs is hunting and guarding . Simply think about it, the animals we domesticate for food are mainly herbivorous animals, such as cattle, sheep, and pigs. Because domestication is simple, just give them grass to eat, and plants are everywhere.

The domestication of carnivorous animals is obviously much more difficult, because in the early stage, when the carnivorous animals' eating habits have not changed, you either feed them meat or they will starve to death. At that time, humans' own meat sources were insufficient!!!

We all know from junior high school biology that energy will be greatly lost as the food chain increases. In this case, it was undoubtedly unwise for the ancients to add another food chain.

So among the six domestic animals we mentioned, horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and chickens, only dogs are carnivorous animals. Of course, domesticating dogs is not for eating, but that does not mean that dogs cannot be eaten. The complexity of human food habits is beyond imagination. It can be said that except for airplanes, cars, and ships, everything can become our food.

For example, China, with its extremely developed food culture, is the world's earliest inventor of ceramic tableware, shocking the world and famous throughout the world!!!

02 How were dogs domesticated?

Let's briefly review the domestication process of dogs. Although there are many different opinions on the domestication of dogs, including the European domestication theory, the Middle Eastern domestication theory, and the Chinese domestication theory, there is also a school called the reconciliation school, which believes that the domestication of dogs originated from multiple places. Anyway, there are a lot of articles, enough to write a thick book.

However, no matter which school of thought, no one denies the basic fact that dogs were domesticated from wolves , and the domestication period was between 30,000 and 10,000 years.

The process of dog domestication is generally speculated to be as follows: When humans formed settlements, some gray wolves chose to feed on human leftovers and did not attack humans, so humans would not prey on gray wolves. Then slowly, while seeking human leftovers, gray wolves also provided humans with warnings (animals protecting territory and food), coupled with the gray wolves' own agility and sense of smell.

Finally, through gradual selection, humans finally domesticated dogs. This is the skull of a domesticated dog.

Figure a is a dog skull found in the Goyet Cave, and Figures b and c are wolf skulls. The main manifestation is that the nose has become shorter, which is most likely caused by a change in diet.

Of course, with gradual domestication, the relationship between dogs and humans has become increasingly close, and even a special hormonal relationship has been established.

03 The relationship between dogs and humans

Dogs and humans have a positive "biofeedback loop" whereby a rise in oxytocin in one triggers a rise in the hormone in the other. When dogs and their owners maintain eye contact, the same hormone that helps form the mother-infant bond increases in both.

This is because dogs have been domesticated for a long time, and eye contact between humans and dogs has already been formed. In other words, as dogs were domesticated and the connection between humans and dogs strengthened, the mutual gaze between dogs and their owners may have co-evolved as a form of social communication. There is a shared physiological oxytocin feedback loop between the two species.