It looks like American and European dogs can trace a strong lineage to Southeast Asia.
A new DNA study by UC Davis and other experts suggests that American and European breeds were much more influenced by canines from Southeast Asia than by ancient Western dogs or dogs from the Middle East as was previously thought.
"Our findings suggest that modern European and American dogs are overwhelmingly derived from dogs that were imported from Asia since the silk trade, rather than having descended directly from ancient dogs native to Europe," said UC Davis' Ben Sacks, a study co-author.
Sacks said it was particularly surprising to find that Middle Eastern dogs had almost no influence on Western breeds, according to a UC Davis press release, despite the region's closer proximity to the west.
Researchers looked at DNA samples from nine wild members of the dog family and 633 domestic dogs. The domestic dogs were mainly from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Other dogs included: Australian dingoes, salukis, which are Middle Eastern hounds, and 93 purebreds, representing 35 other breeds.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
• Read more articles by Bill Lindelof
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.