How repeatedly mating the same domesticated wolves gave us all these different dog breeds?
In: Biology
Humans probably did not do any *intentional* selective breeding on wolves. What happened is this:
1. Wolves and humans shared an ecosystem.
2. The wolves that were less scared by humans and fire would be bolder and benefit, possibly from getting extra access to scrap food, extra protection from weather and extra warmth from our fires/shelters.
3. Those more-human friendly wolves had more successful kids because it was easier for them to survive
4. Those friendlier wolves would outcompete scared wolves in areas around humans.
This process continued for many generations until wolves were trusting humans outright. At that point, they’re basically the first dogs. It’s really only once you reach this stage that humans are intentionally choosing which ones to breed for specific tasks, probably many thousands or tens of thousands of years after wolves and humans first started co-domesticating.
It’s important to realize domestication isn’t a thing that *humans* do to *animals*. It’s a thing that can happen both ways. Wolves domesticated humans as much as humans domesticated wolves.
The humans who weren’t too afraid to have wolves around benefitted from the protection, hunting assistance, and waste disposal that wolves provided. That means they outcompeted humans who did not have wolves.
The same process in reverse. We are two species which have molded each other to mutual benefit.
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