More Than Mutts: The History of North America's Earliest Dogs

Dogs have been part of the human experience in the Old World for at least 16,000 years. But when and where do we find the earliest dogs in the Americas? Chris Widga, head curator at the East Tennessee State University Museum of Natural History, is part of an international team studying early dogs and dog domestication. Their research examining DNA recovered from several ancient animals, published in Science, has revealed the unique genetic signature of America’s first dogs, where they came from, and offered insight into their complex evolutionary history of our canine companions. Chris Widga earned his PhD in anthropology from the University of Kansas and is an adjunct professor of geosciences at East Tennessee State University.