S/N/45. Dissertation. Domestication of the Dog ÏAn Evolutionary Perspective

The dissertation investigates the domestication of dogs by humans providing a review of literature on the history of animals' domestication, Darwinist and Neo-Darwinist (sociobiological) attitudes toward animals, the palaeontological record of the Canis species, the modes of social symbiosis, etc. Archaeological evidence for temporal and geographic origins of dogs' domestication is reviewed; comparison between dogs and wolves is made; the issues of co-evolution are discussed. Conclusions are made about whether dogs' domestication is an evolutionary phenomenon.