Many people believe that dogs were actually domesticated from wolves.
French scientists once sequenced the genes of canines. The researchers were surprised to find that the genetic difference between dogs and wolves was only 0.2%. The wolf, in people's eyes, is the representative of the top carnivore. It has sharp claws and a ferocious temper. It is insidious and cunning, and it can also rely on its teammates for perfect teamwork. Dogs have long been domesticated by humans and are used as loyal pets to look after homes and homes. They are known for being obedient and docile. They have a well-behaved temperament, have almost no requirements for food, and are basically not aggressive.
Do two species with such huge differences really have such high genetic similarities? Did dogs really evolve from wolves?
Ancient times: wolves voluntarily domesticated by humans
Forty million years ago, wolves began to appear on the continent in the Middle Ages, and it would take more than 35 million years for the world to wait until humans appeared.
According to the research results of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, almost all dogs in the world originated from wolves raised in the southern Yangtze River Basin of my country about 16,000 years ago. British scientist Galton believes that in ancient times, when hunting wolves, people would kill the adult wolf and eat its skin, flesh and bones, and then take away the cubs from the wolf nest and select docile ones. Feed wolf cubs and they will become dogs when they grow up.
But in recent years, this theory has been overturned. Scientists studied wolf bones unearthed along with ancient human fossils 16,000 years ago, and used gene sequencing technology to finally conclude that wolves were most likely voluntarily domesticated by humans.
16,000 years ago, humans mainly made a living by collecting berries and fishing. It was completely impossible and unnecessary to domesticate wild wolves. It was most likely that wolves actively followed human migrations in ancient times, and then followed human corpses after death. Unearthed together.
Archaeologists speculate that at first, it may be because humans discarded leftover fish bones beside the camp, and wandering wolves picked up the bones next to the human camp. These wolves soon realized that they could find food by following humans, and this behavior was passed down from generation to generation and turned into genes. Eventually, the wolves that followed humans became the dogs that accompany humans day and night.
Therefore, in ancient times, wolves were most likely voluntarily domesticated by humans. After that, endless battles began between humans and untamed wolves.
Ancient China: The battle between man and wolves reached its peak, and wolves became rampant.
In ancient China, due to the superior climate and environment, it was naturally suitable for the reproduction and reproduction of wolves. Before humans had effective methods to curb the proliferation of wolves, wolf disasters were extremely frequent in China, and large-scale disasters would occur every few years. The wolf plague always makes the people miserable.
When a wolf disaster occurs, wolves will attack small villages in ancient times. At first, they will steal poultry and livestock, but when food is scarce, wolves will also target people.
In ancient books, there are many stories about wolves attacking people.
In the second of the three wolf stories in "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", a butcher came home too late and met two hungry wolves on the road. The two wolves followed the butcher for a long time. When the butcher finally refused to rest on a haystack, one wolf pretended to sleep in front to attract the butcher's attention, while the other sneaked around behind and planned to attack the butcher. Unexpectedly, the butcher jumped up and killed the wolf that was attracting attention in front of him. When he found another wolf behind him, he was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat. In the story, the images of two fierce and cunning wolves emerge vividly on the page.
Ming Dynasty Ma Zhongxi also created the article "Mr. Dongguo and the Zhongshan Wolf" based on ancient folklore. The story used the story of Mr. Dongguo to save a wolf but was almost eaten by it, and whipped all ungrateful and shameless people.
In ancient China, wolves were enough to stop children from crying at night. Countless people died from wolf attacks every year, and countless wolves died at the hands of angry farmers every year. Wolves and humans The conflict between them reached its peak during this period.
Modern times: Humans have gained an overwhelming advantage over wolves.
With the development of human science and technology, especially after the invention of gunpowder and muskets , people have gained an overwhelming advantage over wolves. A great hunt for wolves begins.
Around the 20th century, wolves became rampant in North America. Wolves often attacked poultry and livestock on farms late at night. In sparsely populated wilderness, wild wolves often attacked solitary passers-by.
The increasing proliferation of wolves has posed a great threat to human life safety, so in the middle of the twentieth century, a massive wolf extermination campaign was launched in North America. Within a few years, wild wolves were almost extinct in North America, but the disappearance of wild wolves caused the proliferation of herbivores on the grasslands.
In the famous Yellowstone Park in the United States, due to the extinction of wolves, red deer without natural predators began to multiply wildly, and their numbers increased more than sevenfold in three years. The proliferation of red deer quickly destroyed grasslands and vegetation. In order to maintain balance, the local government had to introduce fourteen more Canadian wild wolves to control the number of red deer.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, wild wolves once endangered the survival of the Chinese people. Until the liberation, there were still incidents of wild wolves attacking villages. The most common topic among villagers was the rumor that wolves can eat humans.
Wolves will attack villages at night, snatch away children, and attack homes containing only women and children. The proliferation of wolves also became an immediate problem that needed to be solved in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
At that time, China's wolf extermination campaign quietly started in private villages and grew rapidly. Villagers began to spontaneously form teams to hunt wild wolves. At that time, the captain of each team also had the right to carry a gun. The wave of killing wolves once reached its highest point.
As a result, the wolves were slowly almost extinct on the outskirts of the village under the hunting of hunters. In those years, because of the bright color and excellent thermal insulation properties of wolf skins, there were always people buying wolf skins at high prices, and a large number of wolf skins were circulated in the market every year. This further stimulates the idea of hunting gray wolf . The number of Chinese wolves suddenly dropped sharply from tens of thousands to several thousand later. In order to survive, the remaining wolves had to flee into the mountains and go to inaccessible wilderness to avoid the wanton killings of humans.
Modern Times: Coexisting with Wolves
In April 2004, "Wolf Totem" was released. Once the book was released, it aroused widespread discussion in the society. The writer Jiang Rong also appeared on the rich list of Chinese writers.
"Wolf Totem" tells the story between herdsmen and Chinese wolves in the 1960s and 1970s. The book praises the perseverance and courage of wolves, changing people's previous stereotypes of wolves, and praising wolves from cunning and cunning animals to beings that are brave, resourceful and able to work together as a team.
In 2015, Wu Jing starred in a number of patriotic-themed movies named after Wolf Warriors, making the word "wolf nature" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Many companies have also followed suit and begun to promote wolf culture and cultivate wolf teams. This series of evolutions not only eliminated people's thousands of years of prejudice against wolves, but also made many people fall in love with wolves.
The sharp decline in the number of wolves has finally aroused the government's vigilance. The survey data released by the government in 2017 is shocking. Taking the wolf population in Hulunbuir Grassland as an example, it has dropped from more than 35,000 in 2009. It has been reduced to less than 2,000 today. Therefore, in 2017, the Chinese wolf was included in the "Red List of Chinese Species" and classified as vulnerable.
Conclusion
This battle that lasted for thousands of years finally ended briefly with human victory. After the wolves experienced the massacre more than seventy years ago, they also completely chose to stay away from human life.
Today, wolves are almost invisible in inhabited areas, except near the areas where herders graze. People have also changed from the fear of wolves back then to the current admiration for wolf culture.
On April 5, 2021, the wolf was officially listed as a second-level national protected animal.The country's efforts to protect wild animals are getting stronger and stronger, and more and more gray wolves are becoming active on the land of China again. However, at the same time, wild wolf attacks on people also occur frequently. How to correctly handle the relationship between humans and wolves is a major test facing our generation.
