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How Wolves & People Domesticated Each Other, & How Dogs Helped Enable Civilization Steve Hall

Wolves, Dogs & People. How Wolves & People Domesticated Each Other, & How Dogs Helped Enable Civilization Steve Hall Adirondack Wildlife Refuge & Rehab Center www.AdirondackWildlife.org 977 Springfield Rd., Wilmington, NY. Wolves, Dogs & People What We Do at ADK Wildlife

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How Wolves & People Domesticated Each Other, & How Dogs Helped Enable Civilization Steve Hall

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  1. Wolves, Dogs & People How Wolves & People Domesticated Each Other, & How Dogs Helped Enable Civilization Steve Hall Adirondack Wildlife Refuge & Rehab Center www.AdirondackWildlife.org 977 Springfield Rd., Wilmington, NY

  2. Wolves, Dogs & People • What We Do at ADK Wildlife • People in Pre-History • People & Wolves • Wolves & Dogs • Dogs & People • Dogs & Civilization • Adirondack Coy-wolves Adirondack Wildlife Refuge & Rehab Center www.AdirondackWildlife.org Terry Hawthorne

  3. What we do at ADK Wildlife Refuge & Rehab Center:Rehab Injured Wildlife Need Licenses from US Fish & Wildlife & NY DEC! Work with veterinarians & volunteers 3 possible outcomes: Animal recovers & is released - 70% Animal dies - 15% Animal recovers, can’t be released – 15% Want to help? Be Prepared Throw a blanket & box in the car Never touch raccoon, fox or bat www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  4. What we do at ADK Wildlife Refuge & Rehab Center:Education with Non-Releasable Wildlife Need License from US Fish & Wildlife www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  5. Friends & Volunteers www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  6. Zeebie – July 2009 www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  7. Cree & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  8. Cree & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  9. Cree & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  10. Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  11. People in Pre-History www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  12. Setting the Pleistocene Stage • 2.5 million to 11,400 years ago • Glaciers advanced and retreated eleven times • Ocean levels dropped and rose in response • Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago • Interglacial Ocean rises restricted intercontinental movement, while enabling intracontinental movement • Neanderthals, large mammals and their predators spread across the north • Glacial Ocean drop enabled intercontinental movement, while restricting intracontinental movement • Neanderthals and wildlife were driven out of the north, placing them in the path of expanding homo sapiens. www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  13. Genus Homo - Humans Out of Africa • Homo Habilis in Africa • 2.3 to 1.4 million years ago • Homo Erectus: Africa, Asia & Europe • 2.2 million to 140,000 years ago • Common ancestor with Habilis? • Homo Neanderthalensis • 150,000 to 30,00 years ago in Europe & Mid East • Homo Sapiens • African genesis 200,000 years ago • Small group of Wanderers became Humanity’s Adams & Eves, leaving Africa 60-100,000 y.a. 1. Homo Sapiens, 2. Neanderthal, 3. Early Hominids, Wiki www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  14. How Genus Homo Changed History • Mastered Fire • Warmth • Cooking, about 250,000 yrs ago • Security from dangerous Predators • Short-faced Bear • Saber Toothed Cat • Dire Wolf • Larger social groups made pre-Homo frugivore diet unsustainable • Learned to scavenge Meat • Hunting game Incredibly Dangerous • Made Crude Tools and Weapons • Erectus shows evidence of the “Throwing” Shoulder • Neanderthals Converse & create totems? • Homo Sapiens Developed Language & Animistic Religion • Pre Historic Cultures are extremely war-like www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  15. Dire Wolf Mark Hallett, Paleoart • Pleistocene wolf • Most common mammalian find in LaBrea Tar Pits • Larger than Grey Wolf • Driven to extinction about 10,000 years ago www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  16. People & Wolves www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  17. Competing & Living with Wolves • Competed for meat with Wolves & other predators • Learned to steal Meat from Wolves • Inadvertently Provided Meat for Wolves and other Scavengers at the Bone Pile • Took in occasional orphaned wolf pup • Wolves became early warning system for dangerous predators or intruders • Provided Meat for Wolves at the Campfire • Accidental tactical cooperation during hunting, with each exploiting the other species strengths & tactics • Unnatural, forced selection led to dogs • Geographical, Topographical & Glacial Isolation drove diversity in humans & their “dogs” www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  18. Cree at 2 years www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  19. Cree & Steve www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  20. Cree & Steve www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  21. Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  22. Wolves & Dogs www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  23. Wolves and Dogs • Wolf Packs are Families • Wolves are territorial • Wolf packs are hierarchical • Dogs are like Wolves. • Emotionally Transparent • Living in the Moment • Dreams & Actions • Cats and Dogs • Wolves are like People. • Mom & Dad are the “Breeding Pair” • Dogs are like Us. www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  24. Dogs & People • Dmitri Belyaev1959 experiment with selecting & breeding tame silver foxes • Less adrenaline in Tamer foxes • Shorter limbs & tails • Floppy ears & curly tails • Left gaze bias in both Humans & Dogs • Sympathetic bias towards infant faces • Neotonousselection for breeding • Oxytocin release in dogs & owners • Wolfs bark or “woof” as a warning • Dogs developed barking to communicate with us • Heart attack survival & occurrence • 500 million dogs in the world, about 500k wolves Silver Fox, Wiki www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  25. Dogs & People • Natural Selection: Survivors Breed • Unnatural selection, or “Eugenics”: Selected Traits Predominate & Become Exaggerated • Decline of nature’s fitness restrictions allows alternate phenotypes, or “funny” looking dogs, to survive and breed • Tandem Repeaters more prevalent in Canids • Physical Traits may be controlled by fewer genes, making selective breed alteration easier to achieve… • While messing up pure breeds: 1 in 4 have genetic issues with recessive genes expressed. • Independence from seasonal weather affects estrus frequency • 80% of 300-400 breeds developed in last 130 years • Dogs were selected for cooperation, for responding to our social queues • Dog’s olfactory orientation married to our visual orientation www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  26. Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  27. Alex & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  28. Alex & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  29. Dogs & Civilization Hunting, security, load pulling, pest control, scavenging, food www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  30. Stages of Civilization www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  31. Plant Domestication Table http://archaeology.about.com/od/domestications/a/plant_domestic.htm www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  32. Animal Domestication Table http://archaeology.about.com/od/dterms/a/domestication.htm www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  33. Alex with Cree & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  34. Alex & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  35. Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  36. Alex with Cree & Zeebie www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  37. CoyWolves www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  38. Adirondack Wolves • Known by Many Names • “Coy Dog” • “Coy Wolf” • “Adirondack Wolf” • “Brush Wolf” • “Tweed Wolf” • Eastern Coyote • Hybrid of Wolf & Coyote • Harmless to People • Dangerous to Pets • Killing Coyotes is counter-productive Coywolves, at ADK Wildlife Refuge Trail cam, Dec 2011 www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  39. Coyotes Spreading East From Dr. Roland Kays, Curator of Mammals, NY State Museum

  40. How did Coyotes Expand Their Range & increase their size? genome.cshlp.org • Longitudinal Hybridization • Give Nature a Hole… • Some Plant or Animal Will Fill it! genome.cshlp.org

  41. Adirondack CoyoteWinter 2011-2012 Trail-Cam photos from Adirondack Wildlife Refuge, january 17th, 2012 Terry Hawthorne Jesse Gigandet Jesse Gigandet Great Plains Wolf, left, and Western Coyote at Adirondack Wildlife Refuge & Rehab Center

  42. DNA Confirms!Wild Wolves are in the Adirondacks • 8 wolves were killed in DAKs , Vt & Maine last 20 years • Wild wolves or Escaped Pets? • Carbon Isotope Isolation Reveals Whether Food sources were wild (C3) or domestic (C4) • 3 of the wolves tested wild • Eastern wolves or gray wolves? • Are returning wolves breeding with coywolves? • Findings may affect legal status Emily Schmitt Roland Kays, Curator of Mammals, NY State Museum www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  43. Trophic Cascades:Wolves in the Context of their Environment Emily Schmitt www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  44. Where the Wild Things Were • Nature is a Top-Down System • Predators • Herbivores • Plants • Trophic Cascades • Otters, Kelp & Killer Whales • Conservation Biology & Biodiversity www.AdirondackWildlife.org http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Figueroa_EL/lifescience4.htm

  45. What Happens to Herbivores & Plants when you Remove Predators? • Herbivores afflicted with infectious, contagious diseases are not removed by predators. • CWD- Chronic Wasting Disease • EHD- Epizootic hemorrhagic disease • Larger number of herbivores over-browse target vegetation & enable spread of invasives. • Favor browsing native species • Learn to browse invasive species, & end up spreading seeds around. • Over-browsing can lead to prey collapse Garlic mustard Common Reed Grass Japanese Knotwood Purple Loosestrife www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  46. Factors needed to ensure Ecosystem survival:Cores, Corridors & Carnivores • Inaccessible wilderness • Wildlife Corridors • Understanding & Appreciating the Role of Predators in nature • Compassion • Appreciation of Tourism Effect www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  47. Adirondack Park • “The lands now or hereafter constituting the Forest Preserve shall be forever kept as wild forest lands…”New York State Legislature in 1885 • Largest Protected Park in the U.S. • 6 million acres - 9,400 sq miles – 24,300 sq km • Larger than Vermont • Larger than Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Great Smokey & the Everglades combined! www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  48. Why encourage wolves in the Adirondacks? • Forever Wild? • Wolves Control Deer & Beaver • Will they Control Coywolf? • Tourism provides jobs • In 2007, the Adirondacks took only 2 % of total NY tourist dollars! http://www.dec.ny.gov/images/lands_forests_images/ www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  49. Why encourage wolves in the Adirondacks? • 25-50,000 Hunters spend $17 to $35 million in Adirondacks per season. • 2006 Survey: 3.5% of total tourists to Yellowstone came just to see wolves, adding $30 million per year to local tourism. • If there are 7 to 10 million tourists to DAKs per yr, and if an additional 3.5% come to see wolves, might add $125 to $165 million to ADK economy. • Hunting Outfitters expand seasonal business to yr. round, adding Photographers & Tourists • Wolves are no physical threat to People http://www.dec.ny.gov/images/lands_forests_images/ www.AdirondackWildlife.org

  50. Factors affecting Wolf Reintroduction • Which wolves actually lived in the Adirondacks? • Gray Wolf, Canis Lupus, or Eastern Wolf, CanisLycaon? • Suitable Habitat in Wilderness Areas? • Accessibility to Other Gene Pools? • “Corridors” local & regional? • Increasing Moose population • Increasing Beaver Population • Stable White Tail population • 26.8k deer harvested in DEC Northern Zone 2011 • Public Acceptance & Education http://www.cosmosmith.com/eastern_timber_wolves.asp www.AdirondackWildlife.org

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