I just finished a fascinating read about the evolution of dogs over at the ScienceBlog Observations of a Nerd. Having read quite a bit about evolution including Darwin’s founding work, I found the discussion of dogs very interesting. Darwin spent significant time on the subject of domesticated animals in On The Origin of Species. He was wrong about the fact that dogs originated from multiple species, but fortunately he was right about everything else.
Observations of a Nerd tells a fascinating story about the evolution of wild dogs in Moscow. Apparently they have evolved into four general breeds of dogs with specific traits. This highlights how extreme conditions can accelerate the normally slow pace we associate with evolution.
