Posted on 07/15/2013 8:45:18 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
BISHOPVILLE, S.C. — Inside a fenced acre on the swampy Lynches River flood plain in central South Carolina, seven of Don Anderson’s primitive dogs spring into high alert at approaching strangers. Medium-sized, they fan out amid his junkyard of improvised habitat: a few large barrels to dig under, an abandoned camper shell from a pickup, segments of black plastic water pipe and backhoed dirt mounds overgrown with waist-high ragweed.
These are Carolina dogs, and though they are friendly, one can instantly sense they are different from other dogs. Several rush to the gate, their whole bodies wagging eagerly. Others sprint off and take position — their jackal ears fully erect, their fishhook tails twitching like flags in a stiff wind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------snip----------------------------------------
Some Carolina dogs still live in the wild, and local people have long thought they were one of the few breeds that predated the European arrival in the Americas: “Our native dog,” as Michael Ruano, another enthusiast who often works with Mr. Anderson, put it. “America’s natural dog.”
Now, a new study of canine DNA backs up the folklore. A team led by Peter Savolainen at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden has reported that several dog breeds in the Americas — among them the Peruvian hairless, the Chihuahua and the Carolina dog — are without some genetic markers indicative of European origin, suggesting they arrived in an earlier migration from Asia.
The study also reawakens the long debate about where and how dogs were domesticated. Current theory speculates that they are descended from wolves that somehow became attached to humans perhaps 12,000 to 33,000 years ago — an early amity that has an extensive pedigree in human folklore. (Think Romulus and Remus.)
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping
My neighbor has a Carolina dog.
Short haired junk-yard dog with a border collie loyalty is a good description.
I’m thinkin’ my mutt has some Carolina dog in her. She looks the part ‘cept for the wolf ears and has the personality.
Very interesting, thanks for posting.
He's an amazing hunter and he eats everything he kills if given the chance, as gross as that sounds but willingly surrenders it to me if I am around. I usually find some feathers or a possum foot as the only evidence because he is a silent hunter. I saw him kill a large possum once and it was an acrobatic sight to behold. He didn't toy with it at all, he was all business.
He has accepted all my other animals as if he really understands when I tell him that they are part of our freakishly diverse pack. While he is suspicious of strangers, he just needs to be introduced and he has a new best friend...
ping for later
I want one...
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