An ancient bone fragment holds clues to how dogs got to the Americas, researchers report.
The research reports that a bone fragment found in Southeast Alaska belongs to a dog that lived in the region about 10,150 years ago. Scientists say the remains—a piece of a femur—represent the oldest confirmed remains of a domestic dog in the Americas.
DNA from the bone fragment holds clues about early canine history in this part of the world.
Researchers analyzed the dog’s mitochondrial genome, and concluded that the animal belonged to a lineage of dogs whose evolutionary history diverged from that of Siberian dogs as early as 16,700 years ago. The timing of that split coincides with a period when humans may have been migrating into North America along a coastal route that included Southeast Alaska.