Wolf Evolution
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[edit] Wolf In The Living Room- The Evolution Of Wolves
During the past decade there has developed a large following in the US and Europe of animal nutritionists, breeders and pet owners who have begun reverting back to the old methods of feeding their pets raw meats, bones and cooked greens much as was the norm before the advent of commercial pet foods. This may have been a trait from their ancestors the proud and might wolf.
Wolves did not evolve by natural selection however wolves evolved naturally from Miacids a dog sized canivore. Humans decided to domesticate wolves. Wolves aren't wild dogs but rather dogs are domesticated wolves.
Samples from both dog and wolf have been taken they are practically the same with some minor adjustments that came when we (humans) domesticated wolves. The reason that some dogs, like the cute small chiuahuah and the hairless chinese crested dont look like the wolf is that while domestication we decided that we liked certain colors traits so we breeded the domesticated wolves and some of these cross-species lived while others died. The ones that lived became new breeds and now over 80 breeds now exist.
Recently the American Society of Mammologist recommended that the domestic dog be reclassified as a new subspecies of wolf, Canis lupus familiaris. There is some genetic evidence that the dog is descendent from the wolf and that the domestication of the dog took place several times over the course of history.
[edit] Sources
www.timberwolforganics.com, http://www.dog-names.org.uk, http://www.wolfcountry.net/information/WolfOrigins.html