Asian Origins of Native American Dogs Confirmed

Once thought to have been extinct, native American dogs are, on the contrary, thriving, according to a recent study that links these breeds to ancient Asia. The study was published online on July 10, 2013 in an open-access article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B--Biological Sciences. The arrival of Europeans in the Americas has generally been assumed to have led to the extinction of indigenous dog breeds; but a comprehensive genetic study has found that the original population of native American dogs has been almost completely preserved, says Dr. Peter Savolainen, a researcher in evolutionary genetics at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. In fact, American dog breeds trace their ancestry to ancient Asia, Dr. Savolainen says. These native breeds have 30 percent or less modern replacement by European dogs, he says. “Our results confirm that American dogs are a remaining part of the indigenous American culture, which underscores the importance of preserving these populations,” he says. Dr. Savolainen's research group, in cooperation with colleagues in Portugal, compared mitochondrial DNA from Asian and European dogs, ancient American archaeological samples, and American dog breeds, including chihuahuas, Peruvian hairless dogs, and Arctic sled dogs. They traced the American dogs’ ancestry back to East Asian and Siberian dogs, and also found direct relations between ancient American dogs and modern breeds. “It was especially exciting to find that the Mexican breed, chihuahua, shared a DNA type uniquely with Mexican pre-Columbian samples,” Dr. Savolainen says.