Origins of dogs found

The findings, which were reported in Science magazine, indicate three founding females, which have been likened to the “Eve’s” of the dog world.

According to the experts, intensive breeding by humans in the past 500 years is responsible for the varied differences in our modern domesticated dogs, and not different genetic origins as was first thought.

Teams studied dog groups from the Old and New World. They discovered that the origins of the New World dogs and those of the Old World dogs both lay in East Asia.

Dogs entered the New World with migrating humans, but how and why they domesticated dogs is still unknown.

Matthew Binns, head of genetics at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket told BBC Online: “For the first time, there is relatively convincing evidence actually pinpointing the date at which the dog was domesticated and also the location of that domestication which is a bit of a surprise.”

“People have previously thought that a lot of species were domesticated in the Middle East and this data clearly show domestication took place in East Asia.”

“It looks as if 95% of current dogs come from just three founding females and I guess these are the Eves of the dog world.”

For more information visit the Science magazine website click here.