Dogs today come in a surprising variety of shapes and sizes. When did it all start? Well, scientists have now discovered that this diversity is not a modern invention: scientists have discovered that prehistoric dogs showed significant differences in skulls at least 11,000 years ago. By analyzing 643 skulls of ancient dogs and their wolf ancestors, the researchers revealed that skull diversity appeared soon after the dogs separated from the wolves.
Early dogs were diverse
Using 3D skull models, the team discovered that early dogs had shorter and wider skull proportionally than wolves. These animals, which lived throughout Eurasia, already represent about half of the cranial diversity seen in modern dogs, indicating early adaptation to different ecological and cultural contexts.
This finding overturns that idea a new extreme form of dog appeared recently. While modern breeds such as the pug or bulldog did not yet exist, humans had already selected dogs for hunting, guarding, herding, and other roles, driving early morphological differences.
Dogs are more than tools, they are companions and symbols in human society. Importance: for thousands of years, humans form dogs for function, culture, and identity, making the early variations we see in prehistoric skulls the basis for the extraordinary diversity we know today. The study was published Thursday in the journal Science.
