Domestication or Co-Evolution?

Dogs have become man's best friend  accessed 23/5
http://pitvel.com/congruence-between-human-and-dogs/ 

It has long been thought that the household dog, Canis familiaris, was intentionally domesticated by humans, but there is another possibility: coevolution.

It’s been found that split between wolves and dogs may have happened up 135 000 years ago. A genetic change that long ago was most likely caused by the first relationship between wolves and humans being more of a mutual hunting strategy rather than the one sided use of wolves. About 150 000 years ago, a new, superior species of hominid outcompeted the Neanderthals. Then the first homo sapiens evolved about 80 000 years ago. These homo sapiens survived the ice age by preying on deer and mammoths and living in the caves of Spain and France.

The first canids were quite small and lived in North America when the ungulates such as horses and antelope dominated. Larger canid predators evolved quickly and spread into Asia, Europe, Africa and the rest of North America. The Canis genus was suspected to have evolved in Asia, with today grey wolf, Canis lupus, evolving around 1 million years ago. Towards the end of the ice age wolves were constantly scavenging from human kills and so the mutualism began. The humans started feeding the wolves in return for loyal companionship and help hunting.

The strong social structure of the wolf allowed it to work successfully hunting due to their knowledge of each other’s position in the hunt. This social level made the wolves extremely valuable to humans not just in the ice age hunts, but in years so come such as working together to pull sleds. This awareness is still very evident in todays “domesticated” dogs, with man’s best friend knowing who in the family is who.

These examples show that the domestication of dogs is more of a mutual co-evolution where both parties have benefited out of the relationship. From previous days of hunting to today’s times of company and protection.  

References:

W. M. Schleidt, M. D. Shalter, 2003, Co-evolution of Humans and Canids: An Alternative View of Dog Domestication: Homo Homini Lupus, Evolution and Cognition, vol. 9, No. 1, pages 57-72 

Camouflage and Identification: Canid Colouration

Canid species vary in colouration and camouflage techniques depending on habitat and identification purposes. One of the most extreme examples of this is the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus), (Creel & Creel, 2002).  Lycaon pictus translates to painted wolf, which refers to the extreme colouration of the animals (Creel & Creel, 2002). This patterning creates amazing camouflage and has been said to resemble "a furred version of combat fatigues" by Angier (1996). The variation in colour is generally on the body and legs of the dogs with most facial colouring being extremely similar (Creel & Creel, 2002). The three main colours are brown, black and white with a small amount of variation in the shades (Creel & Creel, 2002). Some dogs contain no white at all while others have distinct white marks on the tail and underside just behind the forelegs (Creel & Creel, 2002). Body colouration is so varied and unsymmetrical on both sides that photos of the left side of a dog cannot be connected to photos of the right side of the same dog (Creel & Creel, 2002).

Colour variation among African Wild Dogs
http://www.monartozoo.com.au/animals/african-wild-dogs/
accessed 10/5/16

The Wild dog's pattern and colouration is so distinct between individuals the dogs have been known to identify each other up to 100m away (Creel & Creel, 2002). This has been seen in interactions between separate packs in which chases have been initiated and never were members of the same pack harassed (Creel & Creel, 2002). Olfactory sense possibly works with visual identification in this instance (Creel & Creel, 2002).

In the case of the dingo (Canis lupus dingo) colouration is mainly a camouflage evolution rather than identification (Appleby et al. 2015). The main colourations such as ginger, black and tan and white help the animals blend into their surroundings (Appleby et al. 2015). Ginger animals are generally found in sandy conditions such as Fraser Island and Central Australia (Appleby et al. 2015). The black and tan colouration helps in more heavily vegetated areas such as rainforests and light colouration is best suited to either light sands or high altitude snow areas of Southern Australia (Appleby et al. 2015).

Colour variation among dingoes from different areas
http://jennyleeparker3.wix.com/aussie-canis-dingo#!blogger/c12nl accessed 10/5/16

References:

Appleby. R, Johnson. C, Morrant. D, Savolainen. P, Watson. L, 2015, The Dingo Debate: Origins, Behaviour and Conservation, CSIRO Publishing, Victoria Australia

Creel.S, Creel. N.M, 2002, The African Wild Dog: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation, Princeton University Press, Princeton University New Jersey USA