How Dogs Became Our Dearest Friends (ft. MinuteEarth!)

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Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Are you more of a cat person? Follow me to MinuteEarth to discover the origin of our feline friends! https://youtu.be/LWB0-tGwb_E ↓↓↓More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Of all the species that humans have domesticated, dogs are our oldest animal friends. But how did a group of wolves become the furry pup at the end of the bed? New research is finally unlocking the paw-in-hand evolution of dogs and humans. In this episode we’re answering one big question: Did we domesticate dogs, or did dogs domesticate us? Special thanks to our friends from MinuteEarth! ----------- REFERENCES: Frantz, Laurent AF, et al. "Genomic and archaeological evidence suggest a dual origin of domestic dogs." Science 352.6290 (2016): 1228-1231. Freedman, Adam H., and Robert K. Wayne. "Deciphering the Origin of Dogs: From Fossils to Genomes." Annual Review of Animal Biosciences 0 (2016). Freedman, Adam H., et al. "Genome sequencing highlights the dynamic early history of dogs." PLoS Genet 10.1 (2014): e1004016. Thalmann, Olaf, et al. "Complete mitochondrial genomes of ancient canids suggest a European origin of domestic dogs." Science 342.6160 (2013): 871-874. Wang, Guo-Dong, et al. "Out of southern East Asia: the natural history of domestic dogs across the world." Cell research 26.1 (2016): 21-33. ----------- FOLLOW US: Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: @okaytobesmart @DrJoeHanson Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Snapchat: YoDrJoe ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Sarah Keartes Producer/editor/animator: Andrew Matthews Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This episode is 4 minutes long.

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This episode was published on July 1, 2026.

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Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Are you more of a cat person? Follow me to MinuteEarth to discover the origin of our feline friends!...

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