Simon & Schuster's Guide to Dogs [antikvár]

u Descent from the wolf Opinions about the origins of man are vague and subject to disagreement. So, too, are those concerning the origins of his friend the dog. Archeological findings dating back 25 to 30 million years are the first glimmerings we have of the presence of the dog on earth. We may therefore say that in the so-called Age of Mammals, alongside the primitive apes there lived a being with canine characteristics. This animal's scientific name is Cynodesmus, and we knov\/ (or rather surmise) that after millions of years of evolution—via an intermediate wolflike animal called Tomarctus—it was the ancestor of the wolf, the jackal, the fox, the coyote, and all the canines. The first dog domesticated by man was a wolf. It is possible to date its appearance in most parts of the world to about twelve thousand years ago. The remains found in the Beaverhead Mountains of Idaho and those found in Europe, Asia, and pre-Columbian America all belong to the same epoch. The friendship between man and dog is one of the oldest and most lasting in history. In all the vicissitudes of life—in peace and in war, in misery and in wealth, in art, hunting, defense, sport, in companionship and in scientific discovery—man has been accompanied by the dog. Recently, an English philosopher, wishing to confer a long-deserved tribute, defined the dog as "an honorary human being."