▶ Your Answer : Over a long period of time, dogs had a
special bond with humans that to some extent they were called “man’s best
friend.” This huge intimacy and interest towards dogs have led to works of
research trying to understand how, when and where dogs became domesticated.
Both the author and lecturer deal with this topic, but the lecturer argues
against the writer by refuting the points made in the reading passage.
The answers to how dogs were domesticated
as proposed by the author is that ancient people took wolf pups and trained
them to assist them with hunting. As time passed by, these wolves developed
domesticated traits, such as loyalty and ended being the dogs we know today.
Nonetheless, the professor highly doubts these explanations to be true. First
of all, the way hunting back then was to set up traps and hide secretly in
order to catch the prey. With the presence of a wolf, the hunting would have
been more difficult since wolves chase down their preys. Furthermore, wolf pups
would have been strenuous and dangerous to train since they become more
aggressive as they get older.
According the passage, dogs were
domesticated approximately 16,000 years ago. DNA analysis in various research
has proven the length of time dogs have been evolving from their first ancestor
which is about 16,000 years ago. However, despite these results, the lecturer
claims dogs were domesticated much earlier than 16,000 years. The professor
explains that a foot print of a boy and a wolf was found in one of the French
caves, which was estimated to be about 26,000 years old. It seems doubtful to
believe that dogs were domesticated 16,000 years ago.
Finally, the author mentions that
sufficient evidence has proven dogs to be domesticated in China. Experts were
able to locate the accurate location based on a comparison of genetic
information from present-day dogs worldwide. However, in his lecture, the professor
states that dogs are not just domesticated in China but is actually scattered around
the world. Recent DNA analysis has shown that dogs had 4 distinct ancestors
each from different locations, Europe, North America and the Middle East. |