All Australian dingoes may have originated from a single pregnant female, according to an analysis of mitochondrial DNA. The finding backs up the theory that south-east Asian islanders brought the dog’s ancestors to the continent 5000 years ago.
Peter Savolainen of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues analysed mtDNA from 211 dingoes from throughout Australia. They compared it with mtDNA from 676 domestic dogs from all continents, 38 Eurasian wolves and archaeological remains of 19 dogs that lived in Polynesia up to 1000 years ago (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0401814101).
The…
