Study Suggests Dogs Arrived In America Only 10,000 Years Ago

Dogs might have first migrated successfully to the Americas only about 10,000 years ago, thousands of years after the first human migrants crossed a land bridge from Siberia to North America, suggests a new study.

The study examined genetic characteristics of 84 individual dogs at the North and South American sites - the largest analysis so far of ancient dogs in the Americas.

"Dogs are one of the earliest organisms to have migrated with humans to every continent, and I think that says a lot about the relationship dogs have had with humans," said lead researcher Kelsey Witt. "They can be a powerful tool when you're looking at how human populations have moved around over time."

The study analyzed mitochondrial DNA which showed dogs having a more recent history in Americas than previously thought.

"Dog genetic diversity in the Americas may date back to only about 10,000 years ago," Witt said.

Earlier studies had suggested that dogs migrated from Alaska from 40,000 to 20,000 years ago.

Researchers also underscored that some of the dogs analyzed shared genetic similarities with American wolves, hinting a possibility of interbreeding of dogs with wolves.

 Researchers add the current study involves only a small part of the mitochondrial genome, hence providing insufficient picture of ancient dog diversity in the Americas.

The study has been published in the Journal of Human Evolution.