Dogs Migrated to Americas 10,000 Years Ago

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The American most popular pet breed is found to have set foot in the Americas 10,000 years ago, following human migration to the region thousands of years back according to a study published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

The Canis lupus familiaris, more commonly known as a dog or a canine, is still known as one of the earliest animals to have migrated together with their "masters" though the study might run in contrast with previous studies saying that dog populations have been seen in Alaska as early as 40,000 to 20,000 years ago. The study suggests these initial settlers might not have branched out very far, thus, explaining why dogs have begun showing up in South and North America only 10,000 years back.

Researchers studied the mitochondrial DNA of dog species, studying the genetic characteristics of 84 individual dogs from more than a dozen sites in North and South America. This led them to trace back when approximately did dogs start showing up in the Americas along with humans. These early dogs also learned to tolerate human company, get domesticated and generally enjoyed mutual benefits with humans as they found sources of food and enjoyed the safety of human shelter. Humans, on the other hand, had a reliable dwelling guard, and source of "occasional" food then.  

"Their 11,000 to 16,000-year association with humans makes dogs a promising subject for the study of ancient human behavior, including migratory behavior," said study lead author Kelsey Witt of the University of Illinois.

"Human remains are not always available for study because living populations who are very connected to their ancestors in some cases may be opposed to the destructive nature of genetic analysis," Witt added. "Analysis of ancient dog remains is often permitted when analysis of human remains is not."

According to the researchers, the studied dog remains revealed large amounts of genetic information that might have been passed down by American wolf populations, showing evidence that early American settlers domesticated these wolves and bred them for more dog-like traits.

These early domesticated animals would have followed their human masters practically anywhere, including across from Asia and down into North and South America.

"Dog genetic diversity in the Americas may date back to only about 10,000 years ago," Kelsey Witt said.

An earlier separate study dwelled on another well-loved pet breed in the U.S-- cats --showing when they became domesticated and started sharing households with humans through the feline genome. Cats were said to be in harmonious company of humans 9,000 years back.

As of 2014, there are around 83 million dogs that live in households in the U.S. as pets. Cats account for 95 million of the U.S animal pet population.