Dog Jaw Bone Fossil

Scientists found a jaw fragment in a Swiss cave that comes from the earliest known dog. This shows that those domestic dogs lived there between 14,100 and 14,600 years ago. Researchers also found about 14,000-year-old dog fossils among the remains of prehistoric people buried at Germany's Bonn-Oberkassel site. Paleontologist Mietje Germonpré says that Kesslerloch dog is not the oldest evidence of dog domestication. Scientists still argues about how dogs came into existence, but they agreed that dogs originated from wolves. DNA investigation will show how wolves originated, but not dogs. In their view, dogs were domesticated from local wolf populations in many parts of Europe, Asia and maybe northern Africa sometime before 15,000 years ago. Scientists say that the Kesslerloch dog jaw and its remaining teeth seem smaller than those of wolves that were collected from the same site. A space between two of the fossil dog's teeth shows that domestication reached a complex stage at that time. During initial phases of domestication, jaws shrink in size faster than teeth, making dental crowding. Then the teeth would get smaller to leave spaces.

This article explains history of dogs and what their structures are like. This research let us know who the earliest domesticated animals are. The study of fossils is one of the key terms to understanding the ancient world. Also, the study of DNA is one the main factor in understanding of how organisms are related to one another. This article relates to the theory of evolution as it shows how dogs have changed in terms of shape and its genetic makeup.

We should be informed about this news because studying fossils is one step closer to understanding how long the dogs and wolves that existed on Earth, and how they are related to us. We would not be surprised to find out that the dogs’ DNA might be somewhat similar to ours. We should care about this because our lives would be different if dogs have never occurred before. Our future might also be different if the dogs did not exist.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/oldest-dog-fossil.html#view-comments