Pies: Every dog on earth likely descended from a

Evidence: 27 • authority: 80

2. Living Earth (4.6 Billion–5 Million Years Ago)

Evidence: 27 • authority: 80

How can dark matter cause chaos on Earth every 30 million years?

Evidence: 27 • authority: 88

An Impact Shower on the Earth, Moon, and Mars from 800 Million Years Ago. Many assume that inner solar system impact rates have been constant for the last ~3 Gyr (e.g., [1]). The evidence for a constant flux, however, is based on the spatial densities of small craters (Dcrater < 1-2 km diameter) superposed on dated lunar terrains [2]. While these data constrain the flux of small asteroids (D < 0.1 km), they are less predictive of the large impactor flux, which may be driven by surges. For example, [3] measured the spatial densities of Dcrater < 0.1-0.2 km craters on the ejecta blankets of 59 fresh lunar craters with Dcrater > 20 km; 45 are shown in the Left Fig. By setting Copernicus crater…

Evidence: 27 • authority: 80

How Earth might have looked 130 million years ago

Evidence: 27 • authority: 80

This giant kangaroo once roamed New Guinea – descended from an Australian ancestor that migrated millions of years ago

Evidence: — • authority: 88

Wolves, Archaeologists, and the Origin of Dogs. This chapter focuses on archaeological research and its role in explaining the transformation from wolf to dog, addressing why this topic is controversial: the tendency to identify wolf remains found in archaeological sites as evidence of either interlopers or human killing overshadows the alternate possibility of social bonding between humans and wolves. This probably has prevented appreciation of considerable early evidence of relationships between humans and wolves before the latter became sufficiently phenotypically distinct (“doglike”) to be recognized as domestic animals shaped by humans. Some archaeologists do not acknowledge the possib…

Evidence: — • authority: 80

Life: Animal ancestor probably survived ancient ice age: Chemical fossils date back to at least 635 million years ago

Evidence: — • authority: 88

Ape Ancestor (About Seven Million Years Ago). Abstract If you had been born as one of your ancestors who lived seven million years ago, you would have been an ape living in an African forest. This ancestor would also be the ancestor of the chimpanzees and bonobos that still live in African forests. You would have already possessed some of the characteristics that make humans an unusual animal. You would have had a large brain (but not nearly as large as the brain you have now). You would have taken a long time to grow and reach maturity (but not has long as it took you as a human). And, by watching your mother as she foraged and negotiated her social life, you would have gained a head start…

Evidence: — • authority: 80

Video: Tomato ancestor evolved 50 million years ago near Antarctica

Evidence: — • authority: 80

Tomato ancestor evolved 50 million years ago near Antarctica

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The extinct Borophaginae form one of three subfamilies found within the canid family. The other two canid subfamilies are the extinct Hesperocyoninae and extant Caninae. Borophaginae, called "bone-crushing dogs", were endemic to North America during the Oligocene to Pliocene and lived roughly 34–2.5 million years ago, existing for about 31.5 million years.

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The domestication of the dog was the process which resulted in the emergence of the domestic dog as a species (Canis familiaris). This included the dog's genetic divergence from the wolf, its domestication, and the emergence of the first dogs. Genetic studies suggest that all ancient and modern dogs share a common ancestry, descending from an ancient, now-extinct wolf population – or closely related wolf populations – which was distinct from the modern wolf lineage. The dog's similarity to the grey wolf is the result of substantial dog-into-wolf gene flow, with the modern grey wolf being the dog's nearest living relative. An extinct Late Pleistocene wolf may have been the ancestor of the do…