Ancient Teeth Show Reveal Dog, Human Link
It has been suggested that both dogs and humans first became companions about 15000 years ago. At the time, humans were hunter-gatherers whose diet was mainly meat.
Key takeaways:
- A team of researchers has come across genetic evidence that both humans and dogs developed the ability to digest starch at the same time.
- Through DNA analysis of fossils unearthed in Eurasia, the researchers identified copies of the AQmy2B gene, known to help digest starches.
- The ability to digest starch is a unique characteristic among canines and it allowed dogs to co-exist with human beings.
The finding also indicates that dogs likely developed a means for digesting starches during the same time period as did humans, a sign that dogs and humans were co-existing and that both were gaining an ability to live at least partly off the crops that humans learned to grow.
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