Humans domesticated wolves into dogs. Then domesticated wolves' food. Then trained dogs to protect that food from the wolves.

I know that this is an oversimplification but the process made me chuckle.

271 points · 17 comments · view on lemmy.world

17 Comments

crazycraw@crazypeople.online · 107 pts · 1y (1 reply)

inside of all of us are two wolves.

except Mozart, he had like ten or twelve.

That's why he's Wolfgang.

TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works · 15 pts · 1y

Also Theophilus and Amadeus. That guy really loved god.

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org · 17 pts · 1y

Holy crap. This is the best shower thought I’ve read. Good job! I’m gonna share this with others.

Green_Mouse@piefed.social · 9 pts · 1y (13 replies)

Didn't wolves and dogs descend from a shared ancestor, not dogs from wolves?

GoatTnder@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 1y (8 replies)

Nope, genetically wolves and dogs are basically identical. Dogs are simply hundreds of generations of domesticated wolves.

iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 1y (3 replies)

A Wikipedia scan by a layman (me) seems to say that is something that happened after their divergence from a common ancestor.

The dog's similarity to the grey wolf is the result of substantial dog-into-wolf gene flow,[3] with the modern grey wolf being the dog's nearest living relative.

The dog is a wolf-like canid.[7][8][9] The genetic divergence between the dog's ancestor and modern wolves occurred between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago, just before or during the Last Glacial Maximum[2][1] (20,000–27,000 years ago). This timespan represents the upper time-limit for the commencement of domestication because it is the time of divergence but not the time of domestication, which occurred later.

samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 1y

You are correct. The ancestor of the modern dog is a now-extinct gray wolf different from the ones around today.

peoplebeproblems@midwest.social · 5 pts · 1y

How is that an upper-limit for domestication?

Couldn't, theoretically, domestication of the ancestor wolves cause the divergence?

sik0fewl@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 1y

The same article says they are the same species (different subspecies) 🤷‍♂️.

shalafi@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 1y (3 replies)

One could theoretically create a Chihuahua/wolf hybrid. Imagine a 150lb. wolf with the brains and attitude of a Chihuahua. The mind boggles.

fubo@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Chihuahuolf.

cloudless@piefed.social · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)
[ removed ]
fubo@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

Chiwolfhua.

Opinionhaver@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Dogs and wolves are the same specie - just a different subspecie. A Chihuahua could breed with a wolf.

SnortsGarlicPowder@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Christ, what spawn of hell that pairing would make.

VonReposti@feddit.dk · 2 pts · 1y

Hopefully a chihuahua-sized wolf and not a wolf-sized chihuahua.

iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y

As I understand it yes, but that's why I said it was an oversimplification in my post.

Opinionhaver@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 1y

I believe that, in reality, wolves domesticated themselves. They started hanging around humans because it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.