The first animal species to be domesticated was the dog. Estimates of when this happened vary a lot, but it was approximately between 16,000 – 30,000 years ago. An appealing theory is that when people started to settle down and became farmers, they also started to accumulate waste. The tamer than average wolves were brave enough to eat from that waste and thus had a secure source of food. This was an advantage, so natural selection pressure was on being not very afraid of humans. Eventually, a kind of symbiotic relationship developed, where these ancestors of the dog started to perform ‘tasks’ like warning the humans for approaching danger or helping in hunting. In return these animals would receive food security. This type of symbiotic relationship is still present in village dog populations in Africa and Asia, and also in some Southern European countries. It is believed that our current domestic dog breeds originate from these village dogs. There is evidence that genetically the village dogs are in between the wolves and the dogs.
