The
dog
(Canis familiarisor Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant
of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from extinct
gray wolves, and the gray wolf is the dog's closest living relative. The
dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans.
Experts estimate that hunter-gatherers domesticated dogs more than
15,000 years ago in Oberkassel, Bonn, which was before the development
of agriculture. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have
expanded to a large number of domestic individuals and gained the
ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for
other canids.