Biology:Dogor
Dogor is a preserved canine specimen that was found in the Siberian permafrost of Sakha in 2018. It is a remarkably well preserved two-month-old male puppy with fur and whiskers remaining. The animal has been determined to be 18,000 years old. At first, DNA sequencing was unable to identify the animal as either a dog or a wolf. Anders Bergström, a postdoctoral fellow in ancient genomics at the Francis Crick Institute in London, identified Dogor as an ancient wolf as reported in a research study on June 29, 2022 in Nature magazine.[1] However, the specimen did not belong to the ancient east Eurasian progenitor population of wolves from which dogs are thought to have evolved, suggesting perhaps a dual ancestry for dogs.
The specimen was named Dogor by scientists, with the word meaning "friend" (Cyrillic: Догор) in the local Yakut language.
Description
Dogor was found in the permafrost near the Indigirka River, north-east of Yakutsk, Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia during summer 2018.[2][3] It is the body of a two-month-old male canine puppy.[4] The body is remarkably well preserved, and its fur, whiskers, nose and teeth remain intact.[4][5] A part of its rib bone was analysed by radiocarbon dating, which placed it at 18,000 years old.[5]
Identification
Due to the animal's age, it was possible that it represented an evolutionary link between dogs and wolves.[4] Scientists continue to debate the exact point at which dogs were first domesticated, but if Dogor was determined to be a dog, he would have been the oldest ever discovered.[4][5] Dogor was, therefore, described as coming from "a very interesting time in terms of wolf and dog evolution", possibly from around the time of the first domestication of dogs.[3]
DNA sequencing is usually sufficient to distinguish between dogs and wolves; however, even after a large amount of analysis, it was not initially possible to determine to which species Dogor belonged.[3] It was possible that Dogor represented a common ancestor of both species.[4] Further DNA sequencing was undertaken in Denmark to provide more insight.[4][6] Dogor was eventually identified as an ancient wolf in June 2022.[7][1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bergström, Anders; Stanton, David W. G.; Taron, Ulrike H.; Frantz, Laurent; Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S.; Ersmark, Erik; Pfrengle, Saskia; Cassatt-Johnstone, Molly et al. (July 2022). "Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs". Nature 607 (7918): 313–320. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04824-9. PMID 35768506. Bibcode: 2022Natur.607..313B.
- ↑ "Amazingly preserved puppy with whiskers, eyelashes, hair and velvety nose intact puzzle scientists". Siberian Times. 25 November 2019. https://siberiantimes.com/science/others/news/amazingly-preserved-puppy-with-its-whiskers-eyelashes-hair-and-velvety-nose-intact-puzzle-scientists/. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Woodyatt, Amy (27 November 2019). "18,000-year-old frozen puppy leaves scientists baffled" (in en). CNN Travel. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/frozen-puppy-intl-scli-scn/index.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Scientists stumped by 18,000-year-old frozen 'dog'". BBC News. 28 November 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50586508. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sparks, Hannah (27 November 2019). "18,000-year-old puppy stumps scientists: Is it a dog or a wolf?" (in en). New York Post. https://nypost.com/2019/11/27/18000-year-old-puppy-stumps-scientists-is-it-a-dog-or-a-wolf/. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ↑ "DNA of pre-historic puppy, found in Yakutia, to be analyzed in Denmark". Tass Russian News Agency. 12 October 2020. https://tass.com/science/1211285. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ↑ Pappas, Stephanie (7 July 2022). "Mummified puppy that died 18,000 years ago was a wolf" (in en). Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/siberian-mummified-wolf-puppy.
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