Did we domesticate wolves, or did they do it themselves?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-02-12 11:01

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It's been suggested that humans picked out more docile wolves and bred them, leading to domesticated dogs, but new US research suggests wolves may have domesticated themselves. The researchers used computer simulations to show that friendlier wolves that tolerated humans would have had better access to human food scraps and thrived, naturally leading to tamer wolves and eventually domestic dogs as they bred together. This theory has been suggested before, but critics have argued it would take too long, given how quickly we think wolves turned into domesticated dogs. However, the study authors say their simulations show self-domestication could have happened quickly enough to have played a major role in the evolution of wolves into dogs.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Rapid Evolution of Prehistoric Dogs from Wolves by Natural and Sexual Selection Emerges from an Agent-Based Model

Scientists have long debated how wolves evolved into dogs. The traditional view is humans bred wolves for docility, but a competing idea suggests wolves may have "self-domesticated." Friendly wolves that tolerated humans had better access to human food scraps and thrived, naturally selecting for tameness. Critics argue this process might take too long, but our new computer simulation challenges that. Using an evolutionary agent-based model, we tested whether wolves could develop human tolerance quickly enough through natural selection and mate preferences. The results suggest that self-domestication is plausible, meaning wolves may have played a bigger role in their own evolution into dogs.

Do(mesticate) it Yourself - Wolves could have contributed to their own domestication into dogs. An alternative to the prevailing theory, that humans selectively-bred docile wolves, argues wolves could have self-domesticated as tamer individuals could access more food from human settlements. However, critics argue this could not occur in so short a time span. This model suggests wolves could plausibly develop human tolerance quick enough to play a role in their own evolution into dogs.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page The URL will go live at some point after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: James Madison University, USA

Funder: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DMS 1559912.

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