Man’s best friend descended from Asian wolves, says study

DOMESTICATED dogs originated from wolves in East Asia nearly 15,000 years ago and travelled with humans throughout Europe and Asia and across the Bering Strait with the first settlers in America, according to studies presented today.

Swedish and Chinese scientists analysed the DNA of 654 dogs from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America and found that almost all dogs shared a common gene pool.

A higher genetic diversity among East Asian dogs suggested that people there were the first to domesticate dogs from wolves, the scientists said in a study presented in the new issue of the journal Science.

"Most earlier guesses have focused on the Middle East as the place of origin for dogs, based on few known facts a small amount of archaeological evidence from the region.

A separate study by researchers in the United States, Latin America and Sweden claim dogs DNA suggests the first settlers in America, believed to have crossed the Bering Strait from Asia 12,000-14,000 years ago, bringing domesticated dogs with them.