<P> The hypothesis proposed is that an initial wolf population split into East and West Eurasian wolves . These were then domesticated independently before becoming extinct . The Western Eurasian dog population was then partially and gradually replaced by Asian dogs that were brought by humans at least 6400 years ago . A single domestication is thought to be due to chance, however dual domestication on different sides of the world is unlikely to have happened randomly and it suggests that external factors - an environmental driver - may have forced wolves to work together with humans for survival . It is possible that wolves took advantage of resources that humans had, or humans may have been introduced to wolves in an area in which they didn't previously live . </P> <P> The study used the radiocarbon age of the Newgrange dog to calibrate the mutation rate for dogs, which was similar to that calculated for the Late Pleistocene Taimyr wolf . Comparing the sequence of the Newgrange dog using this mutation rate with two modern wolves from Russia gave a divergence time between 20,000 - 60,000 YBP . However, these two modern wolves may not have been closely related to the population that gave rise to the dog, which may have diverged from their ancestor at a later time . </P> <P> In 2017, a study compared the nuclear genome sequences of three Neolithic dog specimens from Germany and Ireland with sequences from over 5,000 dogs and wolves . The study found that modern European dogs descended from their Neolithic ancestors with no evidence of a population turnover found by an earlier study . The study found that a single dog - wolf divergence occurred 36,900 - 41,500 YBP, followed by a divergence between Southeast Asian and Western Eurasian dogs 17,500 - 23,900 YBP and this indicates a single dog domestication event occurring between 20,000 - 40,000 YBP . The study did not support a dual domestication event found by an earlier study . </P> <P> The domestication of animals is the scientific theory of the mutual relationship between animals with the humans who have influence on their care and reproduction . Charles Darwin recognized the small number of traits that made domestic species different from their wild ancestors . He was also the first to recognize the difference between conscious selective breeding in which humans directly select for desirable traits, and unconscious selection where traits evolve as a by - product of natural selection or from selection on other traits . "The dog", according to Oxford researcher Greger Larsen, "was the first domesticant . Without dogs you don't have any other domestication . You don't have civilization ." </P>

How many years ago did wolves evolve into dogs