Going for the Blue Read Online Free
have to
have been made if the “Middle East-little wolf only” scenario is accepted: from thence east to Tibet; then to somewhere in
the South Pacific to link up with primitive navigators about to invade Australia, bringing their dogs (dingoes) with them
(I have seen pariah-type dogs in the longhouses of mountainous areas of Borneo that matched the pariah dogs of Africa and
mainland Asia). To North America eight thousand years ago, a site in Idaho called Jaguar Cave, where ritual burials took place,
and then three or four thousand years later off the coast of what is now Massachusetts. To Peru, the high Andes, to live and
evolve among the Inca; to central Mexico to live and evolve among the Aztec, Quantapec, and Toltec and their kin, and south
of there to live and evolve among the Mayan peoples; with the Plains Indians in North America. In northern Japan; possibly
in the New Guinea Highlands; and in areas of Africa not identified because they accompanied that vast continent’s nomadic
tribes and were probably used as trade goods.
One way or another, dogs got to those places, and in each and every one of them evolved according to the opportunities man
provided. Our knowledge of all this is a patchwork of truths—we think—and not just a few maybes. In fact, we don’t know much
about this part of it at all. It is highly probable that dogs were on their way toward becoming hundreds of different breeds,
perhaps thousands, in a great many parts of the world within the same time period, give or take a couple thousand years. No
one kept a log or a studbook. There was no PKC—Paleolithic Kennel Club.
From time to time a venerable and distinguished scientist has come forth with the theory that the pretty little golden jackal
(
Canis aureus
) of the African savanna was as ancestral to our dog as the wolf is or even more directly. No one seems to hold on to that
theory for long. Typically, the distinguished and venerable scientist eventually apologizes and goes back to the wolf theory
with something akin to his tail between his legs. I must say that the few times I have encountered the golden jackal in the
wild and have been looked in the eye by them, there was the feeling of dog about them. Steady and intelligent, they pad off
at a slow and deliberate trot into deeper grass. Wolves are somewhat like that, too, although they have the added dimension
of their pack behavior, their social interactions.
By way of keeping our perspective and perhaps thoroughly confusing just about everybody: there are claims for true dog remains
in North Africa 80,000 years ago (almost impossible to believe); in Europe, generally 17,000 years ago (that would be at least
possible in the context of the Middle East claim of 15,000 years ago); in England, 7,500 years ago (that would be OK); in
Zhoukoudian, China, 30,000 years ago (another tough one to imagine). Berber nomads are said to have had an active traffic
in dogs 10,000 years ago, including Greyhound, Basenji, and small guard and herding dogs (again, OK); France, it has been
suggested, 150,000 years ago (about ten times the conventional Middle East figure—well before there were
Homo sapiens
); Kent, England, 400,000 years ago! That last figure, for Kent, is almost certainly one of two things, fiction or fascinating
error. When this symbiosis between man and dog really did get under way remains a matter of best guess. We do know that by
four thousand years ago Greyhound-type and Mastiff-type dogs were established, as well as guard types other than Mastiffs,
Sheepdogs, and, surprisingly, lap dogs.
Dogs, almost from the beginning, began splitting off into new breeds, of which we know none from the very early years. Just
as with so many wild animal species, dog breeds have become extinct, being replaced by the natural forces of evolution. We
think we know some basic breeds from seven to ten thousand years ago—the Ibizan Hound, the
have been made if the “Middle East-little wolf only” scenario is accepted: from thence east to Tibet; then to somewhere in
the South Pacific to link up with primitive navigators about to invade Australia, bringing their dogs (dingoes) with them
(I have seen pariah-type dogs in the longhouses of mountainous areas of Borneo that matched the pariah dogs of Africa and
mainland Asia). To North America eight thousand years ago, a site in Idaho called Jaguar Cave, where ritual burials took place,
and then three or four thousand years later off the coast of what is now Massachusetts. To Peru, the high Andes, to live and
evolve among the Inca; to central Mexico to live and evolve among the Aztec, Quantapec, and Toltec and their kin, and south
of there to live and evolve among the Mayan peoples; with the Plains Indians in North America. In northern Japan; possibly
in the New Guinea Highlands; and in areas of Africa not identified because they accompanied that vast continent’s nomadic
tribes and were probably used as trade goods.
One way or another, dogs got to those places, and in each and every one of them evolved according to the opportunities man
provided. Our knowledge of all this is a patchwork of truths—we think—and not just a few maybes. In fact, we don’t know much
about this part of it at all. It is highly probable that dogs were on their way toward becoming hundreds of different breeds,
perhaps thousands, in a great many parts of the world within the same time period, give or take a couple thousand years. No
one kept a log or a studbook. There was no PKC—Paleolithic Kennel Club.
From time to time a venerable and distinguished scientist has come forth with the theory that the pretty little golden jackal
(
Canis aureus
) of the African savanna was as ancestral to our dog as the wolf is or even more directly. No one seems to hold on to that
theory for long. Typically, the distinguished and venerable scientist eventually apologizes and goes back to the wolf theory
with something akin to his tail between his legs. I must say that the few times I have encountered the golden jackal in the
wild and have been looked in the eye by them, there was the feeling of dog about them. Steady and intelligent, they pad off
at a slow and deliberate trot into deeper grass. Wolves are somewhat like that, too, although they have the added dimension
of their pack behavior, their social interactions.
By way of keeping our perspective and perhaps thoroughly confusing just about everybody: there are claims for true dog remains
in North Africa 80,000 years ago (almost impossible to believe); in Europe, generally 17,000 years ago (that would be at least
possible in the context of the Middle East claim of 15,000 years ago); in England, 7,500 years ago (that would be OK); in
Zhoukoudian, China, 30,000 years ago (another tough one to imagine). Berber nomads are said to have had an active traffic
in dogs 10,000 years ago, including Greyhound, Basenji, and small guard and herding dogs (again, OK); France, it has been
suggested, 150,000 years ago (about ten times the conventional Middle East figure—well before there were
Homo sapiens
); Kent, England, 400,000 years ago! That last figure, for Kent, is almost certainly one of two things, fiction or fascinating
error. When this symbiosis between man and dog really did get under way remains a matter of best guess. We do know that by
four thousand years ago Greyhound-type and Mastiff-type dogs were established, as well as guard types other than Mastiffs,
Sheepdogs, and, surprisingly, lap dogs.
Dogs, almost from the beginning, began splitting off into new breeds, of which we know none from the very early years. Just
as with so many wild animal species, dog breeds have become extinct, being replaced by the natural forces of evolution. We
think we know some basic breeds from seven to ten thousand years ago—the Ibizan Hound, the
Readers choose
Robert L. Forward
Adalynn Quinn
Ruth Everhart
CHRISTOPHER C. DOYLE
Jeaniene Frost
Robin Stevens
Lexi Maxxwell
Dominique LeSane
Tom D Wright