Canis
familiaris - Domestic dog
Range: Worldwide
Size: Highly variable,
average is 30 to 125 lb (14 - 57 kg)
All of the fossils shown on this page come
from North America. The majority of domesticated dog (Canis
familiaris) breeds once kept by the aboriginal Americans have
long disappeared through interbreeding with the large stock of European
dogs that were introduced to the continent several centuries ago.
However, some ancient Mexican breeds, such as the chihuahua and Mexican
hairless, still survive today. Estimates of when humans first began
to domesticate dogs vary from 12,000 to 50,000 years ago. It is also
theorized that domestication may have occurred not once, but a number of
times, and in several parts of the world. There is a good possibility
that multiple subspecies of wolves contributed to the ancestry of modern
dogs. |