Study of ancient dogs in the Americas yields insights into human, dog migration

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A new study suggests that dogs may have first successfully migrated to the Americas only about 10,000 years ago, thousands of years after the first human migrants crossed a land bridge from Siberia to North America.

The study, which looked at the genetic characteristics of 84 individual dogs from more than a dozen sites in North and South America, is the largest analysis so far of ancient dogs in the Americas. The findings appear in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Unlike their wild wolf predecessors, ancient dogs learned to tolerate human company and generally benefitted from the association: They gained access to new food sources, enjoyed the safety of human encampments and, eventually, traveled the world with their two-legged masters. Dogs also were pressed into service as beasts of burden, and sometimes were served as food, particularly on special occasions. [...]  news.illinois.edu/


Actualización 14-01-15: La presencia de perros en América pudo comenzar más recientemente de lo creído 
Un nuevo estudio sugiere que los perros podrían haber emigrado por primera vez con éxito al continente americano hace apenas unos 10.000 años, miles de años después de que los primeros emigrantes humanos cruzaran un puente de tierra entre Siberia y Norteamérica.

El estudio, realizado por el equipo integrado, entre otros, por Kelsey Witt y Ripan Malhi, de la Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign, Estados Unidos, se ha basado en un análisis de las características genéticas de 84 ejemplares de perros primitivos de más de una docena de lugares en América del Norte y del Sur...