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"Doggy" and "Pooch" redirect here. For other uses, Dog (disambiguation),, Doggy (disambiguation), Pooch (disambiguation).
The dog (Canis familiaris [4][5] or Canis lupus familiaris [5])is a domesticated descendant of the Wolf Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from extinct Pleistocene wolves ,[6][7] and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. [8] Dogs were the first species to be domesticated [9][8] by hunter-gatherers over 15,000 years ago [7] before the development of agriculture. [1] Due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals [10] and gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids. [11] The dog has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. [12] Dog breeds vary widely in shape, size, and color. They perform many roles for humans, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and the military, companionship, therapy , and aiding disable people. Over the millennia, dogs became uniquely adapted to human behavior, and the humnan-canine bond has been a topic of frequent study. [13] This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet of "man's best friend" . [14]
Further information: Canis lupus dingo § Taxonomic debate – the domestic dog, dingo, and New Guinea singing dog In 1758, the Swedish botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus published in his Systema Naturae, the two-word naming of species (binomial nomenclature). Canis is the Latin word meaning "dog",[15] and under this genus, he listed the domestic dog, the wolf, and the golden jackal. He classified the domestic dog as Canis familiaris and, on the next page, classified the grey wolf as Canis lupus.[2] Linnaeus considered the dog to be a separate species from the wolf because of its upturning tail (cauda recurvata), which is not found in any other canid.[16]
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