Good morning everyone! Here is a post that is different from the norm.
New research sheds light on how some wolves evolved into dogs. They began to like carb based foods of which humans was a source. This makes total sense that as farming techniques improved the ancestors of dogs got used to eating wheat leftover from humans. This is where they began to split from their wolf cousins and became the loveable huggable creatures we know today.
In the new study, Axelsson and his colleagues examined DNA from 12 wolves and 60 dogs. The wolf samples were from animals from the United States, Sweden, Russia, Canada and several other northern countries. The dogs were from 14 breeds. The researchers compared the DNA sequences of the wolves and the dogs (which are subspecies of the same species, Canis lupus) and identified 36 genomic regions in which there are differences that suggest they have undergone recent natural selection in dogs
In particular, dogs show changes in genes governing three key steps in the digestion of starch. The first is the breakdown of large carbohydrate molecules into smaller pieces; the second is the chopping of those pieces into sugar molecules; the third is the absorption of those molecules in the intestine.
“It is such a strong signal that it makes us convinced that being able to digest starch efficiently was crucial to dogs. It must have been something that determined whether you were a successful dog or not,” Axelsson said.
Despite adapting to liking carbs give a dog meat and the wolf in them comes out!
