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Domestic Dog | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Domestic Dog

Canis familiaris

MammaliaHuman settlements worldwide, from Arctic villages to tropical cities

Field profile

The domestic dog is a descendant of grey wolf populations that no longer exist in unmixed form. It shows more variation in body size and shape than any other land mammal, from breeds under two kilograms to breeds above eighty. Most of the world's dogs are not pedigree animals but free-ranging village dogs that scavenge near human settlements.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2023-09-05

Domestic Dog

Dogs were domesticated before farming began

Archaeological and genetic evidence places dog domestication in the late Pleistocene, thousands of years before any crop or livestock species was tamed. The animals that became dogs joined hunter-gatherers, not farmers, which reorders the usual story of domestication.

Read with evidence →