Dogs were devastated by European colonizers

European colonizers would have devastated the American dog population

The Europeans who colonized America since the 15th century decimated not only the indigenous populations but also the domestic dogs that inhabited the continent, said one group of experts after a

The oldest dogs found on the American continent, known as "pre-contact", date from about 9,900 years, or about 6,500 years after the arrival early humans

. A team of 50 researchers analyzed DNA samples found in 71 ancient dogs found in North America and Siberia, which they compared genetically with modern dogs.

Their result, published Thursday in the journal Science, confirms with unprecedented certainty that American dogs have crossed the Bering Strait in the same way as humans.

These dogs lived they lasted millennia with their owners, until they were eradicated in a few centuries after the arrival of Europeans.

The DNA of modern American dogs has nothing in common with the elders, who descend dogs from eastern Siberia. [19659003"Ilestfascinantdevoirqu'unepopulationdechiensquiavécudansdenombreusesrégionsdesAmériquespendantdesmilliersd'annéesetquifaisaitpartieintégrantedesculturesdesAmérindiensapeut-êtredisparusirapidement"affirmel'auteurprincipaldel'étudeLawrenceFrantzunancienexpertdel'ADNAL'UniversitéQueenMaryàLondres

Possible reasons include illness, cultural persecution or the desire of Europeans to raise their own dogs. But the speed of disappearance has surprised researchers

Modern peasants and modern Chihuahuas descend from Eurasian breeds introduced to America between the 15th and the 20th century, writes archaeologist Angela Perri, of the University of Durham in England

. ] And in fact, there is still a genetic trace of old American dogs, but it is peculiar: it is found in a cancerous tumor called CTVT, which is still manifested and transmitted by sexual contact between dogs

Cancer has mutated over the years, looks a lot like the DNA of this first founding dog thousands of years ago, "says Mayor Ni Leathlobhair, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge.

This study is an important but not final step in the understanding of canine evolution.
"The history of pre-contact American dogs is just beginning to be written," said Linda Goo. dman, Stanford, and Elinor Karlsson, of the University of Massachusetts, in a separate article in Science. This story can only be written with future discoveries, and especially with the study of more complete genomes than those analyzed so far.

By: Ann James
Copyright AFP