Really interesting review of the book The Invaders in the Wall Street Journal. The book argues that humans and their dogs outcompeted Neanderthals, leading to their demise.
Homo sapiens arrived in Europe about 40,000 years ago. It appears they quickly domesticated wolves, who helped them hunt and defend their camp sites.
According to the book, this partnership turned humans into "super predators" that drove the dog-less Neanderthals to extinction.
Scientists have long debated what happened to the Neanderthals. They were in many ways much better suited for living in Europe than Homo sapiens.
They were bigger, stronger and more able to deal with cold weather. Recent research also shows they were also intelligent.
All of this has increased the debate around how Homo sapiens were able to outcompete Neanderthals. Dogs may have been the reason.
This book is part of a fairly new field called "invasion biology", which is the study of invasive species and their ecological impact.
Man, of course, is the most invasive of all species. Its partnership with dogs - the Fido Scenario of human evolution - may be one of the keys to our evolutionary success.
We have fun with pet trends and all the silly things that go with it. But this research shows that dogs may not only be man's best friend, but also an important evolutionary partner.
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