Man's Best Friend

No creature in all of nature has achieved the status with man that dogs have. Dogs have been man's favorite pet for all of recorded history. The popular story goes that, dogs began as domesticated wolves with all the breeds and variety being variants that were the product of man selecting those for traits that suited us. Today there are hundreds of distinct sorts with a wide range of shapes, colors and sizes. Most have little or no resemblance to their supposed wolf ancestors.

Yet, many dogs go homeless and wander the countryside scrounging to feed themselves and their puppies. As any breeder knows, when dogs stop breeding with their own "breed", they tend to revert back to the original type after so many generations. The floppy ears, the shaggy coat, the squashed muzzles, etc begin to look more and behave more like their ancestors long ago. So far they don't seem to be looking all that much "wolf-like".

Actually, dogs seem to be man's companion by design. They bark- as a handy warning of possible danger, they have a tough neck just right to be lead by a leash, they clean up leftover food, they help hunters out and all sorts of very useful and helpful things.

In fact, life would be much less fulfilling without them around. How many would agree that they are a friend that's been tailor made!

Wayne Hollyoak

Keeping Science in Perspective

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