Dogs may have been domesticated and kept as pets since Paleolithic times, as can be surmised from the paintings and carvings that archaeologists have found in ancient campsites and tombs. It is likely that the dog was not only the first domesticated species but also the first animal kept as a pet.
Pets are a relatively recent invention. Most date the pethood concept to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Of course, human beings lived with animals for much longer—dogs have been domesticated at least 30,000 years—but pets are a very special category.
The first animal to make the transition from the wild to the domesticated state was the wolf, the common ancestor of all modern-day dogs. This occurred at least 12,000–14,000 years ago when people discovered that young wolf cubs that remained subordinate to humans as adults could be trained.
One thing is certain: “We know that dogs, without a doubt, were the first domestic animal,” says Larson, meaning that they were tamed and used for work or their fur or meat.
Dogs were the first domesticated animals, cooperating with humans by hunting and guarding. In contrast, cats were domesticated as predators of rodents and lived near human habitations when humans began to settle and farm.
Remains for the older prehistoric dog, which were excavated at Goyet Cave in Belgium, suggest to the researchers that the Aurignacian people of Europe from the Upper Paleolithic period first domesticated dogs.
It seems the that the cat family branched off first, 10.3 million years ago, before the family of dog-like mammals, 7.8 million years ago.
Shih Tzus share more DNA with wolves than most other breeds. The only breed group with more shared wolf DNA is the Nordic spitz group (Huskies, Samoyeds, and Malamutes). The breed almost went extinct in the early 1900s after the death of Empress Tzu Hsi.
All modern dogs are descendants of wolves, though this domestication may have happened twice, producing groups of dogs descended from two unique common ancestors. How and when this domestication happened has been a matter of speculation.
The only animal that has been confirmed to see only in black and white is a fish called a Skate. This is because it has no cones in its eyes.
The Egyptian dog Abuwtiyuw, also transcribed as Abutiu (died before 2280 BC), was one of the earliest documented domestic animals whose name is known.
Saluki. Salukis are acknowledged as the world's oldest dog breed by the Guinness Book of World Records, which states that the breed has been around since at least 329 B.C. This breed was highly prized because of their speed, stamina, and hunting abilities.
The first animal cruelty legislation was passed in 1635, which prohibited tearing wool off of living sheep.
Dogs were the first domesticated species and the only animal known to enter into a domestic relationship with people during the Pleistocene (1–4).
Dogs most probably evolved from wolves at a single location about 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, a study suggests. Previously, it had been thought that dogs were tamed from two populations of wolves living thousands of miles apart.
This chart from The Evolution of Evolution shows humans' and dogs' diversion from a common ancestor 60 million years ago.
The Dalbo dog (Dalbohund) or Dalsland Mastiff is an extinct livestock guardian dog breed from Sweden. A Cuban breed of mastiff originally used for bull-baiting, dog fighting and recapturing runaway slaves; believed to have been descended from introduced Spanish Mastiffs, they became extinct in the mid-20th century.
Scooby-Doo is a Great Dane. The character was designed by Iwao Takamoto, an animator at Hanna-Barbera.
1. Border Collie: A workaholic, this breed is the world's premier sheep herder, prized for its intelligence, extraordinary instinct, and working ability.
A wolf dog is any canine with both domestic dog and wolf in its recent genetic ancestry and can result from any of the following parent combinations: a pure wolf and a pure domestic dog, a pure wolf and a wolf dog, two wolf dogs, or a wolf dog and a pure dog.
If you thought cats spent a lot of their lives sleeping, you'd be right. According to Veterinary Hub , Cats actually spend 70% of their lives sleeping, which works out to around 13-16 hours a day. It's a cat's life!
However, our kitties are still related to the big cats — especially tigers, the largest of the world's big cats and one of the most fear-inspiring predators. A study published in 2013 found that our pet cats share 95.6 percent of their genome (DNA) with the Amur tiger.
At the end of the day, there simply isn't a clear winner. Cats and dogs are each uniquely intelligent in their own way, and there's no inherent superiority between them. Each animal should be assessed according to its unique abilities.