Dogs have evolved and used to be more like cats

Climate change helped in the design of dogs, forging man’s best friend from a creature that was more like a cat, scientists have learned.

Ancestors of dogs living in north America 40 million years ago resembled small mongooses and, like cats, were ambush predators.

A few million years later the thick forests that once covered the continent began to give way to grassland as conditions became cooler and drier.