Dogs are not only man’s best friend, it turns out they are also the oldest domesticated animal by humans. New research published in the journal Science. lead by an international team found that dog domestication can be traced back 11,000 years to the end of the last Ice Age.

This confirms that dogs were domesticated before any other known animal. An international team of scientists analyzed the whole genomes (DNA in the nuclei of biological cells) of 27 ancient dog breed remains linked to a mixture of archaeological cultures. Researchers compared these to each other and to modern dogs, and they found some stunning results.

The scientists found that dog genetic patterns directly mirror human ones because people took their animal friends with them when they migrated. But there were also some important differences, the scientists note.

According to the study, our canine partners were widespread across the northern hemisphere at this time and had already split into five different types of canine, BBC News reported.

Despite the expansion of European dogs during the colonial era, traces of these ancient indigenous breeds survive today in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Breeds like the Rhodesian Ridgeback in southern Africa, and the Chihuahua and Xoloitzcuintli in Mexico retain genetic traces of ancient indigenous dogs from the region.

European dogs were originally diverse, seeming to emerge from two very different populations, one related to Near Eastern dogs and another to Siberian dogs.

While the ancestry of dogs in East Asia is complex, Chinese breeds seem to derive some of their ancestries from animals like the Australian dingo and the New Guinea singing dog, with the rest originating from Europe and dogs from the Russian steppe.

But at some point, perhaps after the onset of the Bronze Age, a single dog lineage spread widely and replaced all other dog populations on the European continent. The research provides context to some of the unknowns in the natural history of our close animal companions.

Dr Pontus Skoglund, co-author of the study and group leader of the Ancient Genomics laboratory at London’s Crick Institute, told BBC News: “Dogs are really unique in being this quite strange thing if you think about it, when all people were still hunter-gatherers, they domesticate what is really a wild carnivore – wolves are pretty frightening in many parts of the world. The question of why did people do that? How did that come about? That’s what we’re ultimately interested in.”

Greger Larson, a co-author from the University of Oxford, said: “Dogs are our oldest and closest animal partner. Using DNA from ancient dogs is showing us just how far back our shared history goes and will ultimately help us understand when and where this deep relationship began.”

Dogs have always been thought to have evolved from wolves that were tamed to serve as hunting companions and guard dogs.

The results of the recent study suggest all dogs derive from a single extinct wolf population or a few different closely related ones. If there were multiple domestication events around the world, these other lineages did not contribute much DNA to later dogs, according to the study.

However, Skoglund expressed that we don’t know for sure when or where the initial domestication occurred. “Dog history has been so dynamic that you can’t really count on it still being there to readily read in their DNA. We really don’t know – that’s the fascinating thing about it.”

A gorgeous doggie that was allegedly “destined to be used for meat” has earned viral fame after she was filmed reaching her paw out to a sympathetic pedestrian. Thanks to that passerby, the lovable pooch was rescued just before it was suspected to be slaughtered, and is now living the good life.

The American Eskimo-Dog, now named Yuan Yuan, is reportedly a stolen pet. She was spotted just outside a meat market in China’s Jilin Province last October. In a video clip that has been shared millions of times by dog-lovers in China, the owner shows how the dog was rescued while demanding that officials in the People’s Republic implement stricter laws to protect the small creatures.

The man uploaded the clip to Douyin, the Chinese version of video-sharing social networking service TikTok, along with the caption: “See how scared it was while waiting to be butchered at the dog meat store, and how hopeful it looked [as she waited for a human to rescue it].”

In the video, the man sits next to a seemingly neglected and dirty Yuan Yuan before he holds out his hand. The puppy then places her paw in the palm of his hand before bashfully looking away.

In other clips, Yuan Yuan can be seen frolicking and playing after becoming a beloved family pet rather than a slab of meat in the display case of the meat market, reports Daily Mail. Experts say that the dog’s demeanor shows that Yuan Yuan had been raised as a pet prior to appearing in Jilin outside of the market.

“The dog in the video responded to human kindness by offering a paw, a sure sign that this dog was almost certainly a former pet, likely stolen for the meat trade,” said Wendy Higgins of Humane Society International (HSI).

The animal rights advocate further said that Beijing must introduce new laws to safeguard dogs and cats from the meat industry, adding: “That is the only way to stop them suffering.”

Under local customs and traditional Chinese medicine practices, dog meat is seen as nutritious and helps to protect people from common summertime diseases. The practice is not quite common in modern China, with the majority of Chinese citizens having never tried dog meat and rejecting the idea of doing so, according to local reports.

In an online poll on social media platform Sina Weibo held in April, over 40,000 Chinese netizens support the idea of a ban on consuming dog meat while only 6,600 opposed the idea. The Chinese government has been taking steps in recent months toward officially banning the trade of dog meat, potentially saving millions of dogs from being slaughtered every year.

People employed in dog-related businesses have opposed the measures, especially in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which is home to the annual traditional dog meat festival in the city of Yulin. While the festival has been the target of ire by both domestic and international animal rights activists, dog business owners claim that the cost of changing professions is too much of a burden to handle in the short term.

“Momentum is building in China to tackle the dog and cat meat trades, and while I don’t think anyone expects Yulin’s dog meat trade to close up overnight, what the activists witnessed could indicate that things are shifting even in Yulin,” said HSI China policy specialist Dr. Peter Li ahead of the Yulin dog meat festival earlier this year.

The behavior of Yuan Yuan seems to indicate that she hadn’t entirely lost her faith in humans, one expert said. “Dogs might lift one of their paws up when they’re becoming unsure about something as this can be a way for a dog to communicate they need space,” a spokesperson from U.K. dog welfare charity Dogs Trust said.

“However, if a dog has previously learnt that offering their paw to a person results in something positive happening such as receiving a treat, attention or reassurance, then they will might well offer their paw in response to someone holding out their hand.”

In “cockfights” where roosters are forced into combat with one another, razor blades are typically attached to the legs of the birds so their attacks are more lethal. People who handle the animals during these contests are sometimes injured by the animals because they can be difficult to control. 

During a raid on an illegal cockfight in a small Philippine town, a police chief was killed by one of the roosters in this manner. The raid took place in Madugang village in Northern Samar province on Monday. San Jose Police Chief Lt. Christian Bolok bled to death after a razor blade on one of the birds slashed an artery in his leg.

Provincial Governor Edwin Ongchuan said that the injury was sustained while Bolok was attempting to confiscate the birds.

“He was trying to confiscate the roosters but the problem was the rooster’s blade may have been laced with poison,” Ongchuan told The Associated Press.

Three farmers were arrested in the raid and seven roosters were confiscated, although police only gathered 550 pesos which is worth about $10 in cash.

Cockfighting is very popular in the Philippines and many of the matches are actually illegal. However, the events have been banned because of the coronavirus pandemic, and authorities have been cracking down on any gathering involving more than a few people.

The Philippines has the second-highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, with more than 375,000 infections and at least 7,114 deaths recorded since the pandemic began.

“We grieve with our provincial police in the loss of such a committed and selfless officer whose enforcement of our community quarantine regulations has cost him his life,” Ongchuan said in a statement.

There are two kinds of blades used in Philippine cockfighting: single-edged blades and double-edged blades, and the length of the blades also varies. All blades are attached to the left leg of the bird, but depending on the agreement between owners, blades can be attached on the right or even on both legs. The country has hosted several World Slasher Cup derbies, held biannually at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City. World Slasher Cup is also known as the “Olympics of Cockfighting”. The World Gamefowl Expo 2014 was held in the World Trade Center Metro Manila.

While this may sound like a freak accident, it is actually more common than most people think. Earlier this year, a man in India lost his life under very similar circumstances. In that case, the man was killed by his own rooster while on his way to take the bird to a cockfight. The strange incident occurred on January 15 in the village of Pragadavaram in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh state. The man was somehow hit in the neck with one of the blades during the altercation. He was taken to the hospital where he later died of a stroke.