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Sep 15, 2022, 10 tweets

Long ago, a monster in the dark became humanities greatest friend.

How and when that happened is up for debate by science.

Let’s look at one story today on The Super Pawesome Science Thread. ❤️
#TSPST

Archeologists in Finland proposed one theory about how the wolf began to turn into the dog.
To understand, we need to travel back in time.
Back to a time when the ice froze the world.

The ice age 29,000 to 14,000 years ago was a harsh time for everyone. Great ice sheets stretched from Canada to California. England was frozen over in a cruel tundra. Early humans had a rough time staying alive, but so did the game the humans hunted.

Early deer, caribou, and other game had little fat on their bodies during this time. If a human hunter nabbed dinner, it would be wicked high in protein.
That’s great for a short time, BUT, a diet super high in only protein is dangerous.

Today we know that the human liver can only metabolize so much protein before it says nay-nay. Carbs would have run out for these humans and they would have focused on what fats they could get from their prey, leaving much meat untouched.

The humans ate what they could but realized by random experimentation that too much lean meat sickened them.
Where would a human throw the leftover meat if it couldn’t be carried?
Likely, behind them in their treks through the tundra.

This is it. This is the start of everything, if this theory holds true.
Wolves that hunted the humans found that the humans LEFT food for them.
Over a couple wolf generations, the offspring grew to trust the humans.
Fast forward a hundred years.

The wolf pups that produced less stress hormones in response to seeing humans followed closer. Some ventured into human camps.
Some had pups close to the humans.
The pups played with the humans.
The humans fed the pups.
This is the start of the dog.

It’s one theory as to HOW a monster from the dark became a Bunsen or a Beaker.
It’s up for debate.
This story is plausible and fits the timeline.
The science checks out.
We may never know WHY a wolf decided humans weren’t so bad or so tasty, but boy are we glad they did. ❤️

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