Most species change over time due to natural selection, which leads to them evolving in ways that better adapt to the environment. Dogs have changed a lot in a relatively short time, due to domestication. We humans took a wild animal -the wolf- and over a few thousand years, changed it by unnatural selection, which is called breeding. For most of the time humans and dogs have been living together, the adaptations were not specifically selected for as breeders do now, but we humans loved certain features that made us want to care for some dogs more than others, and there were other traits and behaviors that caused us to reject some dogs. Dogs that pleased humans were more likely to survive and reproduce.
This all makes sense, but you probably don't know how specific some of these features are. Wolves do not smile, or raise their eyebrows to communicate. That's two of the many things modern dogs can do that they developed just to please humans. There are plenty more ways dogs have become human-like because of human selection that might surprise you. Dog cognition researcher Dr. Sarah Byosiere explains how dogs have evolved to be the perfect companion for humans. -via reddit
#dog #evolution #selectivebreeding #dogcognition