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SCIENCEThursday 22 October 2015

Doggie DNA study says Fido first appeared in Central Asia

MALCOLM RITTER DNA from around the world
AP Science Writer is pointing to Central Asia.
NEW YORK (AP) — Where Man’s best friend may
did dogs first arrive on the have evolved somewhere
scene? Scientists have long near what is now Nepal
debated that question, and Mongolia, researchers
and now a study of doggie say.

September was record hot
globally; 7th time this year

In this Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 file photo, dogs play on a street in Lumbini, believed to be the birth-
place of Buddha, southwest of Katmandu, Nepal.

Associated Press

This photo provided by the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, taken in Previous studies have sug- most ancient roots. That Central Asia. In an email,
February 2015, shows coral after bleaching in American Samoa, gested southern China, the pointed to Central Asia. he questioned Boyko’s use
when the XL Catlin Seaview Survey responded to a NOAA coral Middle East, Siberia and The analysis did not tackle of modern-day genetic
bleaching alert. Europe as the place where the contentious question of material as a guide to the
our first domesticated ani- when dogs appeared. distant past.
SETH BORENSTEIN cords, tying 1998 for the mal arose from wolves at Results were reported in a Another expert, Greger
AP Science Writer most monthly heat records least 15,000 years ago. paper released Monday Larson of Oxford University,
WASHINGTON (AP) — This broken. This year, only Jan- For the new work, Adam by the journal Proceedings called the paper “a major
past September was the uary and April did not sur- Boyko of Cornell University of the National Academy step forward” but said he
hottest ever worldwide — pass records going back and others analyzed DNA ofSciences. Even Boyko also suspected that mod-
the seventh monthly re- to 1880. Climate scientists from 549 dogs that repre- doesn’t think the work will ern DNA isn’t the way to
cord set this year. blame man-made global sented 38 countries in Af- end the debate among sci- go. Now that Central Asia
The U.S. National Oceanic warming and El Nino. rica, the Americas, Asia, entists. “I’m not pretending has been added to the
and Atmospheric Adminis- This is has been the hot- Europe, India, the Middle my study alone is enough mix, “Everyone with a fa-
tration calculated a global test first nine months of any East and islands north and to rally the community to- vorite region can point to
temperature for Septem- year. NOAA climate sci- east of Australia. The ani- gether,” he said. at least one paper that
ber of 60.62 degrees (15.9 entist Jessica Blunden said mals weren’t house pets, He’s right. Robert Wayne of supports their suspicions,”
degrees Celsius), beating it would take a highly un- but rather “village dogs” the University of California, Larson wrote in an email.
the record set in 2014. likely cold stretch the rest that wandered freely in the Los Angeles, who proposed Larson is involved in an in-
Seven of the nine months of the year for 2015 not to streets or fields. a European origin for dogs ternational project to tack-
this year have broken pass 2014 as the hottest on The researchers exam- in 2013 based on analysis of le the question with ancient
monthly global heat re- record.q ined the DNA for signals of ancient DNA, said he didn’t DNA and anatomical com-
where the dogs had the buy the conclusion about parisons. q