Man-made dogs

The origins of the domestic dog are discussed in relation to the hunting and nurturing behavioral patterns of man and the social canids. While it is accepted that the wolf was the progenitor of the dog the possibility that other species of canid were tamed and interbred with early domestic dogs is not disputed. A description is given of the recently extinct Dusicyon australis and it is suggested that this South American canid may have been tamed and then introduced and domesticated by man in the Falkland Islands during the early Holocene.