Chocolate Has a New Origin Story
New archaeological evidence suggests humans were cultivating and consuming cacao—the crop from which chocolate is…
New Theory Explains Why Europe's Original Dogs Vanished
The first farmers to arrive in Europe from the Middle East brought their dogs along with them, effectively wiping out…
Why Purebred Dogs Are Sick, Miserable, and Ugly
This week, the Westminster Kennel Club is hosting its popular annual dog show, where canines of all shapes and sizes…
Dogs Make Facial Expressions, But Only When They've Got an Audience
Some dog owners claim to be able to read the face of their cuddly canine like a book, but it’s completely possible…
Compared to Wolves, Dogs Are Absolutely Terrible at Cooperation
Humans and dogs have a long history of working together, leading to the assumption that the collaborative abilities of…
Are Wolves Better Problem Solvers Than Dogs?
From a young age, human children learn that a rattle won’t make a noise until it’s shaken, and that placing fingers on…
Looks Like We Were Wrong About the Origin of Dogs
The precise origin of our canine companions is mired in controversy. But a new study suggests that dogs emerged from…
Why So Many Domesticated Mammals Have Floppy Ears
Take a look at several domesticated mammal species and you might spot a number of similarities between them,…
7 Signs That Humans Are Domestic Animals
Tens of thousands of years ago, humans were wild animals. Our ancestors roamed the land in search of food by day, and…
The Mysterious Origins of Cat Domestication in China
Researchers studying a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in China have discovered that wildcats first came to ancient…
When cats are outlawed, what animals should replace them as pets?
We have learned that cats appear to be environmental murderizers. Some people even want to ban them as pets. Let's say…
How long ago did we finish domesticating horses?
From Black Beauty to My Little Pony: Frienship is Magic, humans have an ongoing love affair with horses (and their…
Friendly dolphins help Brazilian fishermen to catch fish
We think of dolphins as playful — but they may also be more cunning than we ever realized. A subset of the dolphin…
This ancient Egyptian crop rewrote its genome virtually overnight
If you compare a modern cotton crop with one grown 1,600 years ago, the DNA of the two look almost nothing alike. It’s…
DNA reveals that cows were almost impossible to domesticate
Cows are quite possibly the most important domesticated animal in human history, providing vast quantities of meat,…
Baboons kidnap puppies and raise them as their own
Be warned, this video starts off horribly sad, but it's still a fascinating behavior from one of our primate cousins.…
Bonobos may have actually domesticated themselves
Bonobos look like tame versions of chimpanzees. They're much less aggressive than chimps, their features are softer and…
33,000 year old dog skull discovered in Siberian cave
This skull once belonged to somebody's pet, over 33,000 years ago. It's one of the earliest known examples of the…
Fish hatcheries super-charge the speed of evolution
When we domesticate animals, we alter their evolutionary development to favor the traits that we find most desirable.…
All dogs originated in one tiny part of East Asia
If man evolved in Africa, where did man's best friend come from? Scientists thought the first dogs came from the Middle…