Question

The first animal to be tamed was _____.
A. The goat as we know today
B. The dog as we know today
C. The dog’s wild ancestor
D. The goat’s wild ancestor

Answer 1

Hint:
> The present-day forms of these animals are often referred to as ‘best friends’ of man.
> They are the first and the only carnivores to have ever been domesticated.

Complete answer:
The dog’s wild ancestor was the first animal to be tamed by humans. They are also the only large carnivores to have ever been tamed. Researchers believe that the first time these carnivores were tamed was around 40,000 years ago. It is hypothesized that this domestication began when a population of wolves moved into the outskirts of a human settlement, where they used to scavenge on the leftovers.

The wolves that were less aggressive were the ones that got into close contact with humans as neither of the two felt any danger or harm from the other species. Though initially, humans did not gain any benefits from the wolves that scavenged around their place, this eventually led to a symbiotic relationship between the humans and the wolves. A symbiotic relationship is one in which two different species live together and provide certain benefits to each other. In this case, the wolves and humans both hunted together for themselves and for one another.

Slowly, this evolved into an even closer relationship where the humans also shared their living space with the wolves and the wolves provided the humans with protection in exchange for the shelter. It is pretty clear that the species that were tamed during that time were nowhere close to the dogs that we pet today. They were ancient ancestors of the present-day dogs and were more wolf-like.

The evolution of these animals from less aggressive wolves to present-day dogs can be observed through the fossils that have been discovered over a wide time period. The fossils have been found that are 20 – 40 thousand years old, then some that are 14,00 years old and the latest fossils of dogs from 5000 BC.

Therefore, the correct answer is C

Note:
> The present-day dog and their breeds were formed as a result of selective breeding.
> Dogs with certain desirable traits were allowed to mate so that their progeny would contain the traits of both the parents.
> This led to the evolution of present-day dog varieties and breeds. This process is called artificial speciation.