Co-Evolution of Humans and Canids
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Wolfgang M. Schleidt/Michael D. Shalter Co-evolution of Humans and Canids An Alternative View of Dog Domestication: Homo Homini Lupus? Introduction (LORENZ 1954, p85). Isn’t Abstract it strange that, our being Why did our ancestors Dogs and wolves are part of the rich palette of preda- such an intelligent pri- tame and domesticate tors and scavengers that co-evolved with herding un- mate, we didn’t domesti- wolves, of all creatures, gulates about 10 Ma BP (million years before cate chimpanzees as com- and turn them into dogs present). During the Ice Age, the gray wolf, Canis lu- panions instead? Why to become man’s best pus, became the top predator of Eurasia. Able to keep did we choose wolves friend? Is man dog’s best pace with herds of migratory ungulates wolves be- even though they are friend, as Mark DERR came the first mammalian “pastoralists”. strong enough to maim (DERR 1997) once dared to Apes evolved as a small cluster of inconspicuous tree- or kill us? We do not ask? Well, not according dwelling and fruit-eating primates. Our own species claim to know “The to Stephen BUDIANSKY’s separated from chimpanzee-like ancestors in Africa Truth” but we offer in this assertions in a new book, around 6 Ma BP and– apparently in the wider context paper a different view, The Truth About Dogs of the global climate changes of the Ice Age–walked as with emphasis on com- (BUDIANSKY 2000). He true humans (Homo erectus) into the open savanna. panionship rather than claims that dogs are scav- Thus an agile tree climber transformed into a swift, human superiority. engers at heart “For all cursorial running ape, with the potential for adopting the migratory life style that had become essential for the myth and tales of Co-Evolution of dog’s service to man, only the inhabitants of the savanna and steppe. In the ab- a small fraction of dogs sence of fruit trees, early humans turned into omnivo- Cooperation: An living off human society rous gatherers and scavengers. They moved into the Alternative to today earn their keep… steppe of Eurasia and became skilled hunters. Domestication? Sometime during the last Ice Age, our ancestors the overwhelming major- The human species has teamed up with pastoralist wolves. First, presumably, ity of dogs were freeload- refined sociality to a de- some humans adopted the wolves’ life style as herd ers” (p6), even though “in gree of complexity that followers and herders of reindeer and other hoofed an- my role as brutally objec- remains unmatched in imals. Wolves and humans had found their match. tive observer, I do love our world. The human We propose that first contacts between wolves and dogs” (p9). As scientists, capacity for cooperation humans were truly mutual, and that the subsequent we are skeptical about a changes in both wolves and humans are understood starts at birth: even successful journalist who best as co-evolution. though a human mother claims to have found “the is able to give birth and truth”, especially in such Key words take care and full respon- a complex web of prob- sibility for the newborn, lems, connections, obser- Chimpanzee, co-evolution, cooperation, dog, Eurasia, traditionally three vations, opinions. And, human, hunter, Ice Age, pastoralist, Pleistocene, so- women cooperate in the his confession of his cial, pack, wolf. birth… the mother, the “love” for dogs has a mother’s mother and the strange contradictory ring. midwife. Growing up is sheltered by complex helper Konrad LORENZ once stated: “Of all creatures the systems, staffed by siblings, babysitters, and teach- one nearest to man in the fineness of its perceptions and ers far beyond puberty, and group living within the in its capacity to render true friendship is a bitch.” family is well supplemented by socialization among Evolution and Cognition ❘ 57 ❘ 2003, Vol. 9, No. 1 Wolfgang M. Schleidt/Michael D. Shalter peers, from kindergarten, through school, kinship, and cooperativeness are old traits in terms of evolu- work, and ending in funeral rites. But our commu- tion, predating human sociality and cooperative- nal life does not end there: We strive to join our an- ness by millions of years. Thus, we can give a new cestors in heaven, and meet our maker who made and very different meaning to HOMO HOMINI LUPUS: Adam in His likeness. Or, rather, humans created a “Man to Man is—or at least should be—a kind Wolfe.” god in their likeness who is their alter ego, and ac- This shift in our attitude toward wolves opens a cepted by many as the ultimate judge of their moral new vista as to the origin of dogs. Instead of perpet- behavior. uating our traditional attitude that our ”domesti- When we try looking back at the biological foun- cated animals” are intentional creations of human dations of our moral behavior in a distant past, and, ingenuity, we propose that initial contacts between in the absence of any historical evidence turn to our wolves and humans were truly mutual, and that var- closest relatives, the chimpanzees, we find ourselves ious subsequent changes in both wolves and hu- in a strange conflict. The life of chimpanzees, espe- mans must be considered as a process of co-evolu- cially their sociality, as revealed by the pioneering tion. The impact of wolves’ ethics on our own may work of Jane GOODALL and others (GOODALL 1986; well equal or even exceed that of our effect on DE WAAL 1997) appears as a frightful caricature of wolves’ changes in their becoming dogs in terms of human egoism. Even in their maternal behavior their general appearance or specific behavioral warmth and affection are apparently reduced to traits. nursing and an occasional comforting hug; cooper- The earliest suggestions that dogs do not fit the ation among group members is limited to occa- conventional paradigms of domestication, as pro- sional hunting episodes, or the persecution of a posed for hoofed animals and fowl, can be found in competitor, always aimed for one’s own advantage ZEUNER’s pioneering work (ZEUNER 1963), but the and executed with MACHIAVELLIAN shrewdness. The gravity of the problem became apparent when the first insight we get from chimpanzee society is: “We genetic relationship between wolves and dogs was have come a long way”. The high morality we claim elucidated by Robert WAYNE and Carles VILÀ (VILÀ et as achievement of our species, however, is a very al. 1997), opening the possibility that the split be- thin veneer on the old ape, and our newspapers are tween wolves and dogs may date back as far as 100 full of stories that reflect more chimpanzee than hu- to 135 ka BP (135,000 years before present). Such a man ethics. long common history of dogs and modern humans The closest approximation to human morality we begs the question as to the dog’s part in the en- can find in nature is that of the gray wolf, Canis lu- deavor of humans to take control of the world, and pus. This is especially odd in view of the bad reputa- led to the formulation of a hypothetical “lupifica- tion wolves have in our folklore, as expressed in the tion” of human behavior, habits, and even ethics famous phrase, HOMO HOMINI LUPUS. In Thomas (SCHLEIDT 1998). Erhard OESER has pursued this lead HOBBES’ own words: „To speak impartially, both say- and traced the contribution of dogs in the “human- ings are very true; That Man to Man is a kind of God; ization of the ape” in a wider context of human cul- and that Man to Man is an arrant Wolfe. “(HOBBES ture (OESER 2001, in press). Our own paper does not 1651). Since HOBBES’ time, however, our under- aspire to be a comprehensive review of the hypo- standing of wolves has changed considerably, even thetical co-evolution of cooperation between dogs though for a rancher who leaves his livestock unsu- and humans, but attempts merely to provide more pervised and unprotected by a good shepherd, an details und pursue several collateral ideas emanat- “arrant Wolfe” is to this day a formidable threat ing from the original proposal (SCHLEIDT 1998). (MECH 1970; FOX 1975, 1980; MECH/BOITANI 2003). Wolves’ ability to cooperate in a variety of situa- Primates and Canids: A Current View tions, not only in well coordinated drives in the context of attacking prey, carrying items too heavy Around 6 Ma BP humankind separated from chim- for any one individual, provisioning not only their panzee-like tree dwelling and fruit-eating ancestors own young but also other pack members, baby sit- in Africa and moved as true human hunters and ting, etc., is rivaled only by that of human societies. gatherers, Homo sp., into the open savanna, con- In addition, similar forms of cooperation are ob- quered the plains of Eurasia, and became fierce served in two other closely related canids, the Afri- hunters during the grueling conditions of the Ice can Cape hunting dog and the Asian dhole. There- Age.1 There a new species emerged and dominated fore it is reasonable to assume that canid sociality Europe and the Near East longer than any other Evolution and Cognition ❘ 58 ❘ 2003, Vol. 9, No. 1 Co-evolution of Humans and Canids Africa Eurasia North America Africa Eurasia North America Canis lupus Canis lupus Red fox- Red fox- C. simensis C. aur. like Canids Lycaon like Canids Cuon Urocyon C. latrans 1,000 recent Ma 0 Plei. Plio. Borophaginae 10 10,000 Aelurodon stirtoni Miocene Hespero- 20 cyoninae 100,000 Years before present Years Pleistocene Caninae Oligocene 30 1,000,000 40 10,000,000 Tertiary Eocene 50 The cast With fruit trees of human and reindeer and canine as parts of 60 Paleocene evolution the stage set Figure 1: Cladogram indicating the phyletic relationship be- Figure 2: A schematic summary of the current teaching of hu- tween Canis lupus and selected species and divisions of man and canid evolution.