The Americas Went to the Dogs 10,000 Years Ago
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iStock/Thinkstock(URBANA, Ill.) — Man’s best friend may not have shown up in the Americas until long after man had settled here.
Although previous studies theorized that the ancestors of modern-day dogs migrated from Alaska anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, Kelsey Witt, a biologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says that the estimated time of arrival was likely 10,000 years ago.
Witt made her deduction by examining the mitochondrial DNA of more than 80 individual dogs at sites in both North and South America.
Still, even if Witt is correct in her assessment, she says it doesn’t discount the significance of these domestic pets.
Witt maintains, “Dogs are one of the earliest organisms to have migrated with humans to every continent, and I think that says a lot about the relationship dogs have had with humans.”
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