title: Watchman Nee

text: Nee believed in the verbal inspiration of the Bible and that the Bible is God's Word. He also believed that God is in one sense triune, Father, Son, and Spirit, distinctly three, yet fully one, co-existing and co-inhering each other from eternity to eternity. He believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, even God Himself, incarnated as a man with both the human life and the divine life, that He died on the cross to accomplish redemption, that he rose bodily from the dead on the third day, that He ascended into heaven and was enthroned, crowned with glory, and made the Lord of all, and that He will return the second time to receive His followers, to save Israel, and to establish His millennial kingdom on the earth. He believed that every person who believes in Jesus Christ will be forgiven by God, washed by His redeeming blood, justified by faith, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and saved by grace. Such a believer is a child of God and a member of the Body of Christ. He also believed that the destiny of every believer is to be an integral part of the church, which is the Body of Christ and the house of God.


title: Watchman Nee

text: Nee had a unique blend of Brethren theology, the exchanged life theology of the Keswick conventions and his own east Asian insights into Christian theology. His well-known book, "Sit, Walk, Stand" focused on the believer's position "in Christ," an important feature of the Apostle Paul's theology.


title: Watchman Nee

text: In addition to speaking frequently before many audiences, Watchman Nee authored various books, articles, newsletters, and hymns. Most of his books were based on notes taken down by students during his spoken messages. Some books were compiled from messages published previously in his periodicals.


title: Watchman Nee

text: Watchman Nee's best-known book in English is "The Normal Christian Life", which is based on talks he delivered in English during a trip to Europe in 1938 and 1939. There he expressed theological views on the New Testament book of Romans.


title: Watchman Nee

text: In addition to publishing his own books, other spiritual publications were translated from English and published under Watchman Nee's oversight. These included books by T. Austin-Sparks, Madame Guyon, Mary E. McDonough, Jessie Penn-Lewis, and others.


title: FIFA Arab Cup

text: The FIFA Arab Cup (), or simply Arab Cup, is an international association football competition which has been organized by FIFA since 2021, and is contested by the senior men's national teams of the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA), the sport's governing body for countries in the Arab world. The current champion is Algeria, which won its first title at the 2021 tournament in Qatar.


title: FIFA Arab Cup

text: The championship's inaugural edition was in 1963, held in Lebanon, which was won by Tunisia. After having been played in 1964 and 1966, the Arab Cup was halted for almost 20 years, before being contested in 1985. The tournament was played five more times until 2012, the last competition organized by the UAFA. The 2021 edition was the first organized by FIFA.


title: FIFA Arab Cup

text: The ten Arab Cup tournaments have been won by six national teams. Iraq have won four times; the other Arab Cup winners are Saudi Arabia, with two titles; Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and inaugural winner Tunisia, with one title each.


title: FIFA Arab Cup

text: Seven countries have hosted the Arab Cup. Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have each hosted twice, while Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Syria have each hosted once. All Arab Cups have been held in Asia.


title: FIFA Arab Cup

text: The initial idea for the conception of an Arab Cup came in 1957 from Lebanese journalist Nassif Majdalani and the Secretary General of the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) Izzat Al Turk. In 1962, the LFA called for the formal establishment of the tournament through their president Georges Dabbas, who organised a general Arab assembly for the formation of the Arab Cup. The first Arab Cup was held in Beirut between April and May 1963, with the participation of five teams.


title: FIFA Arab Cup

text: During the 16-year hiatus between 1966 and 1982, the Arab Cup was "de facto" replaced by the Palestine Cup, which was held three times in the 1970s and then became a youth tournament after the return of the Arab Cup in the 1980s. The 1992 Arab Cup was also organised as part of the 1992 Pan Arab Games.


title: FIFA Arab Cup

text: The 2021 edition was the first edition to be organised by FIFA; the competition was renamed FIFA Arab Cup. Following the 2021 final, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that FIFA would continue to oversee future editions.


title: Sydney to the Max

text: Sydney to the Max is an American comedy television series created by Mark Reisman that aired on Disney Channel from January 25, 2019 to November 26, 2021. The series stars Ruth Righi, Ava Kolker, Jackson Dollinger, Christian J. Simon, Ian Reed Kesler, and Caroline Rhea.


title: Sydney to the Max

text: Sydney Reynolds is a 12-year-old girl who lives in Portland, Oregon with her father Max and her paternal grandmother Judy as she navigates life in middle school with her best friend Olive. Each half-hour episode includes a flashback segment set in 1992 that details 12-year-old Max and his friend Leo, who both work at a shopping mall arcade owned by Leo's father. Both segments show Sydney and young Max getting into similar situations.


title: Sydney to the Max

text: The multi-camera series was green-lit by Disney Channel on September 6, 2018, and slated to premiere in early 2019. The series was created by Mark Reisman, who also serves as showrunner, executive producer, and writer. Starring in the series are Ruth Righi as Sydney Reynolds, Ian Reed Kesler as Max, Christian J. Simon as Leo, Ava Kolker as Olive, Caroline Rhea as Judy, and newcomer Jackson Dollinger as Young Max. The series is produced by It's a Laugh Productions. On November 19, 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere on January 25, 2019. The theme song is produced and written by Kay Hanley, Michelle Lewis, and Dan Petty and performed by Ruth Righi and Dan Conklin. On January 16, 2019, Disney Channel released the official opening sequence. On May 23, 2019, it was announced that Disney Channel renewed the series for a second season. On November 21, 2019, it was announced that Disney Channel renewed the series for a third season, ahead of its second season premiere. On April 1, 2022, it was reported that the series concluded production after the third season, with the final episode airing on November 26, 2021.


title: First Vatican Council

text: The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and was adjourned on 20 October 1870 after the revolutionary Capture of Rome. Unlike the five earlier general councils held in Rome, which met in the Lateran Basilica and are known as Lateran councils, it met in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, hence its name. Its best-known decision is its definition of papal infallibility.


title: First Vatican Council

text: The council was convoked to respond to the rising influence of rationalism, anarchism, communism, socialism, liberalism, materialism, and pantheism. Its purpose was, besides this, to define the Catholic doctrine concerning the Church of Christ. There was discussion and approval of only two constitutions: the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith () and the First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ (), the latter dealing with the primacy and infallibility of the Bishop of Rome. The first matter brought up for debate was the dogmatic draft of Catholic doctrine against the manifold errors due to rationalism. The council condemned rationalism, secularism, liberalism, naturalism, modernism, materialism and pantheism. The Catholic Church was on the defensive against the main ideology of the 19th century. Another main goal of the council was to definitively define the powers and role of the pope.


title: First Vatican Council

text: As early as late 1864, Pius IX had commissioned the cardinals resident in Rome to tender him their opinions as to the advisability of a council. The majority pronounced in favour of the scheme, dissenting voices being rare. After March 1865 the convocation of the council was no longer in doubt. Special bulls were reportedly issued with invitations to Eastern Orthodox and Protestant clerics as well as to other non-Catholics, but apparently none accepted the invitations.


title: First Vatican Council

text: The council was summoned by the pope by a bull on 29 June 1868. The first session was held in St. Peter's Basilica on 8 December 1869. Preliminary sessions dealt with general administrative matters and committee assignments. Bishop Bernard John McQuaid complained of rainy weather, inadequate heating facilities, and boredom. Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley of Newark, New Jersey, noted the high prices in Rome. When Lord Houghton asked Cardinal Manning what had been going on, he answered: "Well, we meet, and we look at one another, and then we talk a little, but when we want to know what we have been doing, we read "The Times".


title: First Vatican Council

text: The object of the council was a mystery for a while. The first revelation was given, in February 1869, by an article in , a Jesuit periodical. It claimed, as the view of many Catholics in France, that the council would be of very brief duration, since the majority of its members were in agreement, and mentioned the proclamation of papal infallibility. Factions around the proposal arose across Europe, and some Italians even proposed setting up a rival council in Naples. However, before the council met all became quiet in view of the studied vagueness of the invitation.


title: First Vatican Council

text: Pope Pius defined as dogma the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in 1854. However, the proposal to define papal infallibility itself as dogma met with resistance, not because of doubts about the substance of the proposed definition, but because some considered it inopportune to take that step at that time. Richard McBrien divides the bishops attending Vatican I into three groups. The first group, which McBrien calls the "active infallibilists", was led by Henry Edward Manning and Ignatius von Senestrey. According to McBrien, the majority of the bishops were not so much interested in a formal definition of papal infallibility as they were in strengthening papal authority and, because of this, were willing to accept the agenda of the infallibilists. A minority, some 10% of the bishops, McBrien says, opposed the proposed definition of papal infallibility on both ecclesiastical and pragmatic grounds, because, in their opinion, it departed from the ecclesiastical structure of the early Christian church. From a pragmatic perspective, they feared that defining papal infallibility would alienate some Catholics, create new difficulties for union with non-Catholics, and provoke interference by governments in ecclesiastical affairs. Those who held this view included most of the German and Austro-Hungarian bishops, nearly half of the Americans, one third of the French, most of the Chaldaeans and Melkites, and a few Armenians. Only a few bishops appear to have had doubts about the dogma itself.


title: First Vatican Council

text: On 24 April 1870, the dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith was adopted unanimously. The draft presented to the council on 8 March drew no serious criticism, but a group of 35 English-speaking bishops, who feared that the opening phrase of the first chapter, "" ('Holy Roman Catholic Church'), might be construed as favouring the Anglican branch theory, later succeeded in having an additional adjective inserted, so that the final text read: "" ('Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church'). The constitution thus set forth the teaching of the "Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church" on God, revelation and faith.


title: First Vatican Council

text: There was stronger opposition to the draft constitution on the nature of the church, which at first did not include the question of papal infallibility, but the majority party in the council, whose position on this matter was much stronger, brought it forward. It was decided to postpone discussion of everything in the draft except infallibility. The decree did not go forward without controversy; Cardinal , Archbishop of Bologna, proposed adding that the pope is assisted by "the counsel of the bishops manifesting the tradition of the churches". Pius IX rejected Guidi's view of the bishops as witnesses to the tradition, maintaining: "I am the tradition".


title: First Vatican Council

text: On 13 July 1870, a preliminary vote on the section on infallibility was held in a general congregation: 451 voted simply in favour (), 88 against (), and 62 in favour but on condition of some amendment (). This made evident what the final outcome would be, and some 60 members of the opposition left Rome so as not to be associated with approval of the document. The final vote, with a choice only between and , was taken on 18 July 1870, with 433 votes in favour and only 2 against defining as a dogma the infallibility of the pope when speaking . The two votes in opposition were cast by Bishops Aloisio Riccio and Edward Fitzgerald.


title: First Vatican Council

text: The dogmatic constitution states, in chapter 4:9, that the Pope has "full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church" (chapter 3:9); and that, when he:


title: First Vatican Council

text: None of the bishops who had argued that proclaiming the definition was inopportune refused to accept it. Some Catholics, mainly of German language and largely inspired by the historian Ignaz von Döllinger, formed the separate Old Catholic Church in protest; von Döllinger did not formally join the new group himself.


title: First Vatican Council

text: Discussion of the rest of the document on the nature of the church was to continue when the bishops returned after a summer break. However, in the meanwhile the Franco-Prussian War broke out. With the swift German advance and the capture of Emperor Napoleon III, French troops protecting papal rule in Rome withdrew from the city.


title: First Vatican Council

text: Consequently, on 20 October 1870, one month after the Kingdom of Italy had occupied Rome, Pope Pius IX, who then considered himself a prisoner in the Vatican, issued the bull , adjourning the council indefinitely. While some proposed to continue the council in the Belgian city of Mechlin, it was never reconvened. The council was formally closed in 1960 by Pope John XXIII, prior to the formation of the Second Vatican Council.


title: First Vatican Council

text: Meanwhile, in reaction to the political implications of the doctrine of infallibility on the secular states, some took rapid action. Austria annulled the Concordat arranged with the Curia in 1855. In Prussia the anti-Catholic "Kulturkampf" broke out immediately afterwards, and in France the synod so accentuated the power of ultramontanism (an emphasis on the powers of the Pope), that the French Third Republic took steps to curb it by revoking the Concordat of 1801 and completely separating the Church from the State.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Nathaniel Richards is a fictional time-traveling scientist appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the father of superhero Reed Richards, a founding member, and the leader of the Fantastic Four. He is the namesake of his descendant, the futuristic villain known as Kang the Conqueror; unlike his descendant, the original Nathaniel is more of an adventurer who has a genuine love for his son.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Nathaniel Richards first appeared in "The Fantastic Four" #272 (November 1984) and was created by writer-artist John Byrne.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Dr. Nathaniel Richards was a successful scientist who specialized in multiple fields. He was married to Evelyn and together had a son named Reed who also possessed an intellectual mind like his father. When Evelyn died, Nathaniel continued to raise his son right by supporting his scientific endeavors. Later, Nathaniel is approached by the Brotherhood of the Shield and joins their group. Along with Howard Stark, the two meet a super powered individual named Leonid and help him resolve a dispute between the time traveling Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton who had split the organization in two. These events somehow resulted in Nathaniel gaining the ability to travel through time.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Nathaniel found himself in the far future along with several other alternate versions of himself. The villain Immortus had gathered them together and forced them to kill each other off. Nathaniel managed to flee and in the process left his family for good, but not before setting up his son Reed for life.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Nathaniel ended up in another dimension where the Earth had become a desolate wasteland when the moon was destroyed. He married a woman named Cassandra who bore two children for him, one of which grew up to be Huntara. Cassandra turned out to be a power-mad individual using his technology to rule the remaining humans. The Fantastic Four and Wyatt Wingfoot arrived in this dimension where they defeated Cassandra and freed Nathaniel. After father and son had a heartfelt reunion, Nathaniel stayed behind to help rebuild.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: However, Nathaniel arrived in the present to kidnap Franklin Richards. Nathaniel aged Franklin to a teenager in an effort to refrain Franklin from having a child with Rachel Summers. Their child would eventually grow up to become the villain Hyperstorm. Nathaniel would help Franklin and the Fantastic Four battle Aron the Rogue Watcher by rescuing Uatu the Watcher.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Nathaniel returned to help Reed jumpstart the Future Foundation, using the technology he gathered over the years. He then helped them battle the Kree Army and the Mad Celestials.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Nathaniel Richards have no superpowers, but he is a scientific genius and skilled inventor in advanced technology. He invented a device called the Time Platform, which allows him to travel through time. The armor that he built on his own granted him increased strength, physical resistance, and access to various gadgets, as well as energy weapons for defense.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: A version of Nathaniel Richards exist that was pulled into the far future with the other Nathaniels by Immortus. This version of Nathaniel, called the Beast, was a homicidal maniac who took the opportunity to slaughter all of his alternate counterparts. The Nathaniel of Earth-616 teams up with young college aged Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Victor von Doom in order to defeat him.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Reed's father is renamed Gary Richards and he does not have a scientific background. He also seems to despise his son's scientific mind, preferring his friend Ben Grimm's athletic abilities. When the Baxter Building think tank accepted Reed, Gary was glad that he was gone. When Diablo kidnapped Reed's younger sister Enid, Gary went to Reed for help though he still resented him. When Reed quit the Fantastic Four, Gary was there to greet him, not acting surprised. Gary, along with his wife Mary and two daughters, were killed in an explosion directed at the Richards household, later revealed to have been perpetrated by Reed himself, now the supervillainous Maker.


title: Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics)

text: Reed's father, simply credited as Mr. Richards, appears in 2015's "Fantastic Four" played by Tim Heidecker. He is apparently not Reed's biological father and spends most of his time watching football on television. Several of Mr. Richards' scenes were cut.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Thomas Bach (born 29 December 1953) is a German lawyer, former Olympic foil fencer and Olympic gold medalist, serving as the ninth and current president of the International Olympic Committee since 10 September 2013. He is also a former member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation executive board. Bach is the first ever Olympic champion to be elected President of the IOC.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Thomas Bach was born in 1953 in Würzburg, West Germany. He grew up in Tauberbischofsheim, where he lived with his parents until 1977. Bach earned a doctor of law (Dr. iur. utr.) degree in 1983 from the University of Würzburg. He speaks fluent French, English, Spanish and German.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach is a former foil fencer who competed for West Germany. He won a team gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, as well as silver, gold, and bronze team medals at the 1973, 1977 and 1979 world championships, respectively. He completed his last match on 26 October 1980 in Shanghai.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach served as the President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), prior to becoming President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He resigned as the head of the DOSB on 16 September 2013, having served as President since 2006. He was replaced by Alfons Hörmann, and remained a member of the DOSB Executive Board. Additionally, he resigned as the head of Ghorfa Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Bach will however continue to serve as the head of Michael Weinig AG Company, a company in the industrial woodworking machinery industry that has its headquarters in Bach's hometown of Tauberbischofsheim, Germany.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach headed Munich's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. In the host city election, Munich secured 25 votes as Pyeongchang was elected as host city with 63 votes.


title: Thomas Bach

text: On 9 May 2013, Bach confirmed that he would run for President of the International Olympic Committee.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach was elected to an eight-year term as IOC President at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires on 10 September 2013. He secured 49 votes in the final round of voting, giving him the majority needed to be elected. He succeeds Jacques Rogge who served as IOC President from 2001 to 2013. Bach will be eligible to run for a second four-year term at the 134th IOC Session in 2019 until 2025.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach's successful election came against five other candidates, Sergey Bubka, Richard Carrión, Ng Ser Miang, Denis Oswald and Wu Ching-Kuo. The result of the election was as follows:


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach officially moved into the IOC presidential office at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 17 September 2013, a week after being elected president.


title: Thomas Bach

text: At a meeting of the 137th session of the International Olympic Committee on 10 March 2021, Bach was re-elected to an additional four-year term as President.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach, 67, was re-elected by a 93-1 vote from 94 valid votes during the session which was held virtually. This will be Bach's final term as IOC President, as IOC rules limits the president's term to eight years with one renewal of four years.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Following his election as IOC President, Bach stated that he wished to change the Olympic bidding process and make sustainable development a priority. He stated that he felt that the current bidding process asks "too much, too early". These proposed reforms became known as Olympic Agenda 2020. These forty proposed reforms were all unanimously approved at the 127th IOC Session in Monaco.


title: Thomas Bach

text: The first bidding process over which Thomas Bach presided as President was the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Bids were due in November 2013 and the host city, Beijing was elected to host the 2022 Winter Olympics at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2015. Lausanne was elected to host the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics during that same session.


title: Thomas Bach

text: During the bidding process for the 2024 Summer Olympics, President Bach proposed a joint awarding of the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics after several bidders withdrew. The IOC later approved a plan to award the 2024 Olympics to Paris with Los Angeles securing the right to host the 2028 Olympics. President Bach presided over the elections where Paris was elected to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and Los Angeles was elected to host the 2028 Summer Olympics at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru. Both cities were unanimously elected.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo was elected to host the 2026 Winter Olympics at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland. The full IOC membership will elect the host city at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, home of the International Olympic Committee.


title: Thomas Bach

text: One of the biggest challenges President Bach has been faced with as IOC President is having to deal with Russia's state-sponsored doping scandal. This program did begin prior to his presidency, but nonetheless it has become a pressing issue during his tenure. It had been discovered that Russia tampered with the anti-doping lab at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and that the government had sanctioned doping amongst the Russian Olympic athletes for many years. Speaking at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics, his call to "respect the rules and stay clean" was widely interpreted as a reference to the Russian scandal. Bach was harshly criticized for what many see as turning a blind eye to Russia's state-sponsored Olympic doping effort. Jim Walden, attorney for Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, called Bach's move to reinstate the Russian Olympic Committee following the 2018 Winter Olympics despite the failed drug tests during the Games, "weakness in the face of evil".


title: Thomas Bach

text: On 5 March 2020, Bloomberg News reported that Bach said "Neither the word ‘cancellation’ nor the word ‘postponement’ was even mentioned" regarding the 2020 Summer Olympics to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic at the IOC’s executive board meeting the previous day. On 22 March 2020, the IOC announced that within four weeks a decision would be made on whether Tokyo 2020 will be staged as planned or whether a rescheduling is necessary. Canada announced its withdrawal from the Games later that day, and Australia did the same on 23 March in protest against the IOC's refusal to postpone the Olympics in light of the pandemic. Later in the month, the IOC announced the unprecedented postponement of the Olympics until 23 July - 8 August 2021.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Bach was criticised by Marina Hyde in "The Guardian" for comparing the IOC positively to FIFA with regard to corruption. Also in "The Guardian", Owen Gibson accused Bach of hypocrisy for agreeing to be involved with the 2015 European Games hosted in Azerbaijan. Twenty-nine journalists signed an open letter to Bach calling for him to condemn Azerbaijan's jailing of dissenters and attacks on freedom of expression.


title: Thomas Bach

text: In 2017 Bach faced a backlash in his decision to rename synchronized swimming as artistic swimming. The name change spurred a petition signed by over 11,000 people from 88 countries with one signitary declaring ""“‘Artistic Swimming’ sounds like something society ladies did with their bosom friends at garden parties or after tea in the early 20th century.”"


title: Thomas Bach

text: While Bach was in Tokyo in July 2021 to promote a safe launch of the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics, Bach referred to the Japanese people as "Chinese", triggering a backlash on social media. Bach's visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was opposed by survivor groups, some of which accused Bach of using the atomic bombing politically to "justify holding of the Olympics by force under the pandemic". Furthermore, the Hiroshima prefectural and municipal governments had to cover some 3.79 million yen (roughly $34,000) in security costs for Bach after the IOC refused to pay. As "The Washington Post" had called him "Von Ripper-off", the translated term "" became his nickname, and made the top 10 in 2021's Buzzwords of the Year in Japan.


title: Thomas Bach

text: Also in 2021, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai was suspected have been forcibly disappeared after she accused Zhang Gaoli, a top official of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), of sexual assault. Following international outcry, the CCP offered an apparent "proof-of-life" video. Bach served as an interviewer in the video, in which Peng stated that she was safe and well. Zhang and Bach had met and worked together on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. After the interview, Global Athlete, an athlete advocacy group, said the IOC had demonstrated "an abhorrent indifference to sexual violence and the well-being of female athletes". Peng attended several events at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and had a meeting with Bach and other IOC officials, where Peng said she intended to travel to Europe after the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Gluteus medius

text: The gluteus medius, one of the three gluteal muscles, is a broad, thick, radiating muscle. It is situated on the outer surface of the pelvis.


title: Gluteus medius

text: Its posterior third is covered by the gluteus maximus, its anterior two-thirds by the gluteal aponeurosis, which separates it from the superficial fascia and integument.


title: Gluteus medius

text: The gluteus medius muscle starts, or "originates", on the outer surface of the ilium between the iliac crest and the posterior gluteal line above, and the anterior gluteal line below; the gluteus medius also originates from the gluteal aponeurosis that covers its outer surface.


title: Gluteus medius

text: The fibers of the muscle converge into a strong flattened tendon that inserts on the lateral surface of the greater trochanter. More specifically, the muscle's tendon inserts into an oblique ridge that runs downward and forward on the lateral surface of the greater trochanter.


title: Gluteus medius

text: The posterior border may be more or less closely united to the piriformis, or some of the fibers end on its tendon.


title: Gluteus medius

text: The posterior fibres of gluteus medius contract to produce hip extension, lateral rotation and abduction. During gait, the posterior fibres help to decelerate internal rotation of the femur at the end of swing phase.


title: Gluteus medius

text: Dysfunction of the gluteus medius or the superior gluteal nerve can potentially be indicated by a positive Trendelenburg's sign.


title: Southern Federal District

text: The Southern Federal District () is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its territory lies mostly on the Pontic–Caspian steppe of southern Russia. The Southern Federal District shares borders with Ukraine, the Azov Sea, and the Black Sea in the west, and Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea in the east. The Southern Federal District was originally called the North Caucasian Federal District when it was founded in May 2000, but was renamed for political reasons on 21 June 2000. On 19 January 2010, the Southern Federal District was split in two, with its former southern territories forming a new North Caucasian Federal District.


title: Southern Federal District

text: On 28 July 2016 Crimean Federal District (which contains the Republic of Crimea and the Federal city of Sevastopol) was abolished and merged into Southern Federal District in order to "improve the governance". Crimean Federal District was established on 21 March 2014 after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. The federal district includes both the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol, both recognized as part of Ukraine by most of the international community. Ukraine considers the area, along with the areas of Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic, as temporarily occupied territories. Its population was 13,854,334 (62.4% urban) according to the 2010 Census, living in an area of .


title: Bill Hybels

text: William Hybels (born December 12, 1951) is an American church figure and author. He is the founding and former senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, one of the most attended churches in North America, with an average attendance of nearly 24,000 as of late 2018. He is the founder of the Willow Creek Association and creator of the Global Leadership Summit. Hybels is also an author of a number of Christian books, especially on the subject of Christian leadership.


title: Bill Hybels

text: Hybels was slated to retire from his position at Willow Creek in October 2018; however, he resigned in April 2018 after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. Although Hybels has denied all allegations, an independent review found the allegations to be credible.


title: Bill Hybels

text: Hybels was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is Dutch-American and was a regular participant in the Christian Reformed Church in North America which holds to Calvinist Theology. Hybels's father was an entrepreneur in wholesale produce whose work ethic was the model for his son. In a 2006 interview with the "Chicago Tribune", he pointed to an experience at a Wisconsin summer camp as a teenager that crystallized his understanding and personal embrace of Christian belief. Hybels holds a bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies from Trinity International University, near Chicago.


title: Bill Hybels

text: In the early 1970s, Hybels was studying at Trinity International University (then called Trinity College) when Gilbert Bilezikian, a lecturer, challenged the class about an Acts 2-based church. Hybels was captivated with the vision and abandoned his business aspirations for ministry.


title: Bill Hybels

text: In 1971, Hybels—then serving as youth pastor at South Park Church in Park Ridge, Illinois—started a youth group with friend Dave Holmbo called 'Son City'. Modern music, dramatic skits and multimedia were combined with Bible studies in relevant language, and the group grew from 25 to 1,200 in just three years.


title: Bill Hybels

text: After 300 youth waited in line for a service in May 1974, Hybels and other leaders began dreaming of forming a new church. They surveyed the community to find out why people weren't coming to church. Common answers were reported to be: "church is boring", "they're always asking for money", or "I don't like being preached down to." These answers shaped the group's approach to the new church.


title: Bill Hybels

text: On October 12, 1975, the group held its first service at Willow Creek Theater in Palatine, Illinois. One hundred and twenty-five people attended the service. The rent and other costs were paid for with 1,200 baskets of tomatoes, sold door-to-door by 100 teenagers. Hybels spoke on "New Beginnings". Within two years, the church had grown to 2,000.


title: Bill Hybels

text: Challenges in 1979 led to a recommissioning of the church's vision to be broader and deeper than before. Hybels apologized for the example of his relentless schedule and overemphasis on grace. "We've set up all our leadership structures and goals to grow a full functioning Acts 2 community, as opposed to just an evangelizing machine that doesn't drive the roots down deep and do all the other things it's supposed to do."


title: Bill Hybels

text: In 1981, the church moved to its current location in South Barrington. By 2000, six services were being held each weekend for 15,000 attendees in a building. In 2004, a new Worship Center was opened. With a capacity of more than 7,000, the state-of-the-art auditorium is one of the largest theaters in the United States. In 2017, the church averaged 25,000 attendees per week, making it the eighth largest church in America, according to Outreach 100. In September 2018, Religion News Service reported attendance was down 9% across all campuses, following scandal involving founder Bill Hybels and resignation of the entire senior leadership team.


title: Bill Hybels

text: Hybels was not heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the church between mid-2006 to 2008. Gene Appel served as lead pastor of the South Barrington Campus from mid-2006 until Easter 2008. Appel's role allowed Hybels the ability to serve a more direct role in the Willow Creek Association.


title: Bill Hybels

text: Hybels started the Global Leadership Summit (hosted by the Global Leadership Network (GLN) (rebranded from Willow Creek Association in 2018)) in 1995 as an annual training event for leaders to sharpen their skills. The summit telecasts live from the campus of Willow Creek Community Church, with 118,000 people watching via livestream at host sites across the U.S. in 2018, and hundreds of thousands more later watching via video in countries around the world. The Summit lost more than 100 host sites and tens of thousands of viewers in 2018 following the Hybels' scandal.


title: Bill Hybels

text: On March 23, 2018, the "Chicago Tribune" published an article detailing allegations of sexual misconduct by Hybels spanning decades. The article reported that Hybels had engaged in a prolonged affair with a married woman; however, this allegation was retracted by the woman herself. The "Tribune" wrote that the elders of Willow Creek had conducted an internal review of Hybels' behavior which led to no findings of misconduct; following this report, at least three leaders of the Willow Creek Association board reportedly resigned their posts because they believed the inquiry to have been insufficient. All accusations have been denied by Hybels.


title: Bill Hybels

text: Hybels had planned to retire in October 2018 to focus his energy on the Willow Creek Association. On April 10, 2018, Hybels announced that he was resigning, effective immediately, stating he did not want to be a distraction to the church's ministry. He also announced that he would leave the board of the Willow Creek Association and would no longer lead Willow Creek's Global Leadership Summit.


title: Bill Hybels

text: On April 21, 2018, the "Chicago Tribune" and "Christianity Today" reported further misconduct allegations which were not part of the initial investigation. In response, the Willow Creek elders stated their intent to examine reports regarding "allegations that have not been previously investigated by the Elder Board". The elders said they would seek wise counsel and work with experts, developing a collaborative process.


title: Bill Hybels

text: Despite its initial denial and defense of Hybels, the Willow Creek Board of Elders released a statement on May 9, 2018, as part of their second investigation into allegations against him; the statement indicated that the Board "[does] not believe the stories were all lies or that all the [accusers] were colluding against him."


title: Bill Hybels

text: On August 5, 2018, "The New York Times" published allegations from a former employee of Hybels, who alleges that he repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted her in the 1980s, including fondling her breasts and obtaining oral sex. The complainant only came forward after hearing of the other allegations against Hybels, but crucially had contemporaneous evidence of her allegations from people that she confided in at the time. Hybels denied the allegations.


title: Bill Hybels

text: On August 7, 2018, Steve Carter, one of the two lead pastors who would have taken over leadership at Willow Creek and who had publicly defended Hybels on two prior occasions, tendered his resignation, citing the untenable position he was in given the church's inadequate attention to the matter once Hybels' history of misconduct became known. The following day, on the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, Heather Larson, the other lead pastor, also resigned, and the members of the elder board all stated they would step down by the end of the year. Steve Gillen, lead pastor of Willow Creek's North Shore campus, assumed interim leadership. The church undertook a process to replace the elder board, and announced on January 19, 2019, that a new elder board had been installed.


title: Bill Hybels

text: In March 2019, "The Washington Post" reported that a six-month independent review by four evangelical leaders found the misconduct allegations against Hybels to be credible. The reviewers asserted that were Hybels still pastor at Willow Creek, disciplinary action would be required.


title: Bill Hybels

text: In January 2020, the church announced that Hybels' mentor, Gilbert Bilezikian had also engaged in "inappropriate behavior" after a church member alleged he had sexually assaulted her over a number of years.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Jonathan Goldsmith (born September 26, 1938) is an American character actor. He began his career on the New York stage, then started a career in film and television. He appeared in several TV shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known for appearing in television commercials for Dos Equis beer, from 2006 to 2016, as the character The Most Interesting Man in the World.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Goldsmith was born on September 26, 1938, in the Bronx. His parents were both Jewish, his mother a model and his father a gym teacher. Goldsmith graduated from Boston University in 1958, after which he pursued an acting career.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Jonathan has made over 350 television appearances in his career. Among them was the role of Marvin Palmer in the 1964 "Perry Mason" episode, "The Case of the Blonde Bonanza." To advance his acting career, Goldsmith moved to California from New York in 1966. Like many aspiring actors, he found it difficult to gain enough acting work to survive and wound up working various jobs, including driving a garbage truck and working in construction, to help make ends meet.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: During his early years in film, Goldsmith performed as "Jonathan Lippe", having taken the name of his stepfather at the age of six. He subsequently changed his professional name back to his birth name, later recalling, "It always made me feel bad for my father, who never caused me any grief about it... As my career grew and my son was born, I changed my name back to my real name, Goldsmith, so my father could enjoy his son's success and have a grandson to carry his name as well."


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Goldsmith first established himself as an actor in Western films, with 25 such appearances. In the 1976 film "The Shootist", Goldsmith played a villain who was shot between the eyes by hero John Wayne, who fired blood capsules from a special pellet gun at pointblank range into Goldsmith's face for seven painful takes.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Goldsmith also made guest appearances on 45 television series, including "Gunsmoke"; "Bonanza"; "Adam-12"; "Knight Rider"; "CHiPs"; "Eight Is Enough"; "The Rockford Files"; "Hawaii Five-O"; "Barnaby Jones"; "MacGyver"; "Murder, She Wrote"; "Charlie's Angels"; "Petrocelli;" "Manimal"; "The Fall Guy"; "Dynasty"; "T.J. Hooker"; "Hardcastle and McCormick"; "Magnum, P.I."; "Knots Landing"; and "The A-Team", as well as a few made-for-TV movies. His longest run in a television series was on "Dallas", in which he appeared 17 times.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: In the 1980s Goldsmith started network marketing businesses (waterless car wash products) Dri Wash & Guard, and SPRINT which was successful enough to allow him to "retire" from the Hollywood scene; he purchased an estate in the Sierra Mountains. He taught theater at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York from 1999-2004. He moved onto a large sailboat moored in Marina del Rey. In 2011 he and his wife Barbara (who was his agent when he obtained the Dos Equis role) moved to a house in the area of Manchester, Vermont.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: In 2017 Goldsmith published a memoir, "Stay Interesting: I Don't Always Tell Stories About My Life, But When I Do They're True and Amazing."


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Beginning in April 2007 and continuing through 2015, Goldsmith was featured in a high-profile television ad campaign, promoting Dos Equis beer. The campaign, which transformed Goldsmith into "the most interesting man in the world", was credited for helping to fuel a 15.4 percent sales increase for the brand in the United States in 2009 and also made him into a very popular meme.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Goldsmith landed the Dos Equis gig by auditioning for the role. Auditioners were given the ending line "...and that's how I arm wrestled Fidel Castro" and asked to improvise. Goldsmith began his audition by removing one sock and then improvised for 30 minutes before reaching the concluding line. The character was inspired by his deceased sailing partner and friend Fernando Lamas.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: On March 9, 2016, Dos Equis announced that it would replace Goldsmith in the role as the "Most Interesting Man in the World", saying that the brand hoped to "reboot (the character) in a way that's relevant for today's drinker so the brand doesn't get stale." In September 2016, French actor Augustin Legrand (who also speaks English and Spanish) became the new "Most Interesting Man in the World".


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: In June 2017, Goldsmith returned to television advertising; he switched to tequila, and does ads for Astral Tequila.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: In the past, Goldsmith has been an advocate for landmine victim support and has assisted the Morris Animal Foundation in their efforts to prevent and cure cancer in dogs.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Goldsmith supported the S.A.B.R.E Foundation, whose mission is to protect and preserve the Siberian tiger.


title: Jonathan Goldsmith

text: Goldsmith’s other charitable causes are Free Arts for Abused Children, which pairs artists with children in protective custody, and the Stella Link Foundation, a group calling attention to child sex trafficking in Cambodia.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The domestication of the dog was the process which created the domestic dog. This included the dog's genetic divergence from the wolf, its domestication, and the emergence of the first dogs. Genetic studies show that all ancient and modern dogs share a common ancestry and descended 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 dog.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The dog is a member of the wolf-like canids. The genetic divergence between the dog's ancestor and modern wolves occurred between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago, just before or during the Last Glacial Maximum (20,000–27,000 years ago). This timespan represents the upper time-limit for the commencement of domestication because it is the time of divergence but not the time of domestication, which occurred later.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: One of the most important transitions in human history was the domestication of animals, which began with the long-term association between wolves and hunter–gatherers more than 30,000 years ago. The dog was the first species and the only large carnivore to have been domesticated. The domestication of the dog occurred due to variation among the common ancestor wolf population in the fight-or-flight response where the common ancestor wolves with less aggression and aversion but greater altruism towards humans received fitness benefits (and vice versa for humans), and thus the domestication of the dog is a prominent example of social selection (rather than artificial selection). The archaeological record and genetic analysis show the remains of the Bonn-Oberkassel dog buried beside humans 14,200 years ago to be the first undisputed dog, with disputed remains occurring 36,000 years ago.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The domestication of the dog predates agriculture, and it was not until 11,000 years ago in the Holocene era that people living in the Near East entered into relationships with wild populations of aurochs, boar, sheep, and goats. Where the domestication of the dog took place remains debated; however, literature reviews of the evidence find that the dog was domesticated in Eurasia, with the most plausible proposals being Central Asia, East Asia, and Western Europe. By the close of the most recent Ice Age 11,700 years ago, five ancestral lineages had diversified from each other and were represented through ancient dog samples found in the Levant (7,000 years before present YBP), Karelia (10,900 YBP), Lake Baikal (7,000 YBP), ancient America (4,000 YBP), and in the New Guinea singing dog (present day).


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2021, a literature review of the current evidence infers that the dog was domesticated in Siberia 23,000 years ago by Ancient North Eurasians, then later dispersed eastwards into the Americas and westwards across Eurasia. Ancient dog remains dating to this time and place have yet to be discovered to support this hypothesis.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The oldest known dog skeletons are found in the Altai Mountains of Siberia and a cave in Belgium, dated ~ 33 000 years ago. According to studies, this may indicate that the domestication of dogs occurred simultaneously in different geographic locations.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: 6 million years ago, towards the close of the Miocene era, the earth's climate gradually cooled. This would lead to the glaciations of the Pliocene and the Pleistocene, which are commonly referred to as the Ice Age. In many areas, forests and savannahs were replaced with steppes or grasslands, and only those species of creature that adapted to these changes would survive.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Genetic studies indicate that the grey wolf is the closest living relative of the dog. Attempting to reconstruct the dog's lineage through the phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences from modern dogs and wolves has given conflicting results for several reasons. Firstly, studies indicate that an extinct Late Pleistocene wolf is the nearest common ancestor to the dog, with modern wolves not being the dog's direct ancestor. Secondly, the genetic divergence (split) between the dog's ancestor and modern wolves occurred over a short period of time, so that the time of the divergence is difficult to date (referred to as incomplete lineage sorting). This is complicated further by the cross-breeding that has occurred between dogs and wolves since domestication (referred to as post-domestication gene flow). Finally, there have been only tens of thousands of generations of dogs since domestication, so that the number of mutations between the dog and the wolf are few and this makes the timing of domestication difficult to date.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The Late Pleistocene era was a time of glaciation, climate change, and the advance of humans into isolated areas. During the Late Pleistocene glaciation, a vast mammoth steppe stretched from Spain eastwards across Eurasia and over Beringia into Alaska and the Yukon. The close of this era was characterized by a series of severe and rapid climate oscillations with regional temperature changes of up to , which has been correlated with megafaunal extinctions. There is no evidence of megafaunal extinctions at the height of the Last Glacial Maximum (26,500 YBP), indicating that increasing cold and glaciation were not factors. Multiple events appear to have caused the rapid replacement of one species by another one within the same genus, or one population by another within the same species, across a broad area. As some species became extinct, so too did the predators that depended on them (coextinction).


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The grey wolf is one of the few large carnivores to survive the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions, but similar to many other megafaunal species it experienced a global population decline towards the end of this era, which was associated with extinctions of ecomorphs and phylogeographic shifts in populations. Grey wolf mitochondrial genomes (excluding the Himalayan wolf and the Indian plains wolf) indicate that the most recent common ancestor for all "C. lupus" specimens studied – modern and extinct – dates to 80,000 YBP, and this is more recent than the time suggested by the fossil record. The fossil record suggests that the earliest grey wolf specimens were found in what was once eastern Beringia at Old Crow, Yukon, in Canada and at Cripple Creek Sump, Fairbanks, in Alaska. The age is not agreed but could date 1 million YBP. All modern wolves (excluding the Himalayan wolf and the Indian plains wolf) show a most recent common ancestor dating to 32,000 YBP, which coincides with the commencement of their global demographic decline.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The origin of dogs is couched in the biogeography of wolf populations that lived during the Late Pleistocene. The fossil record shows evidence of changes in the morphology and body size of wolves during the Late Pleistocene, which may be due to differences in their prey size. Wolf skeletal development can be changed due to a preference for larger prey which results in larger wolves. Considerable morphological diversity existed among grey wolves by the Late Pleistocene. These are regarded as having been more cranio-dentally robust than modern grey wolves, often with a shortened rostrum, the pronounced development of the temporalis muscle, and robust premolars. It is proposed that these features were specialized adaptations for the processing of carcass and bone associated with the hunting and scavenging of Pleistocene megafauna. Compared with modern wolves, some Pleistocene wolves showed an increase in tooth breakage that is similar to that seen in the extinct dire wolf. This suggests that these either often processed carcasses, or that they competed with other carnivores and needed to quickly consume their prey. The frequency and location of tooth fractures found in these wolves compared with the modern spotted hyena indicates that these wolves were habitual bone crackers. These ancient wolves carried mitochondrial lineages which cannot be found among modern wolves, which implies their extinction.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Grey wolves suffered a species-wide population bottleneck (reduction) approximately 25,000 YBP during the Last Glacial Maximum. This was followed by a single population of modern wolves expanding out of a Beringia refuge to repopulate the wolf's former range, replacing the remaining Late Pleistocene wolf populations across Eurasia and North America as they did so. This source population probably did not give rise to dogs, but it admixed with dogs which allowed them to gain coat colour genes that are also related to immunity. There is little genetic information available on the ancient wolves that existed prior to the bottleneck. However, studies show that one or more of these ancient populations is more directly ancestral to dogs than are modern wolves, and conceivably these were more prone to domestication by the first humans to expand into Eurasia.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: An apex predator sits on the top trophic level of the food chain, while a mesopredator sits further down the food chain and is dependent on smaller animals. Towards the end of the Pleistocene era, most of today's apex predators were mesopredators and this included the wolf. During the ecological upheaval associated with the close of the Late Pleistocene, one type of wolf population rose to become today's apex predator and another joined with humans to become an apex consumer. The domestication of this lineage ensured its evolutionary success through its expansion into a new ecological niche.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: For a long time scientists assumed that dogs evolved from the modern grey wolf. But a study published in 2014 concluded that this was incorrect, and that dogs are descended from an extinct type of wolf.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The date estimated for the divergence of a domestic lineage from a wild one does not necessarily indicate the start of the domestication process but it does provide an upper boundary. The divergence of the lineage that led to the domestic horse from the lineage that led to the modern Przewalski's horse is estimated to have occurred around 45,000 YBP but the archaeological record indicates 5,500 YBP. The variance can be due to modern wild populations not being the direct ancestor of the domestic ones, or to a divergence caused by changes in the climate, topography, or other environmental influences. Recent studies indicate that a genetic divergence occurred between the dog's and modern wolves 20,000–40,000 YBP; however, this is the upper time-limit for domestication because it represents the time of divergence and not the time of domestication.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2013, the mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) sequencing of ancient wolves together with whole genome sequencing of modern dogs and wolves indicated a divergence time of 19,000–32,000 YBP. In 2014, another study indicated 11,000–16,000 YBP based on the modern wolf's mutation rate. The first draft genome sequence of a Pleistocene wolf was published in 2015. This wolf from the Taymyr Peninsula belonged to a population that had diverged from the ancestors of both modern wolves and dogs. Radiocarbon dating indicates its age to be 35,000 YBP, and this age could then be used to calibrate the wolf's mutation rate, indicating that the genetic divergence between the dog's ancestor and modern wolves occurred before the Last Glacial Maximum, between 27,000 and 40,000 YBP. When the Pleistocene wolf's mutation rate was applied to the timing of the earlier 2014 study which had originally used the modern wolf's mutation rate, that study gave the same result of 27,000–40,000 YBP. In 2017, a study compared the nuclear genome (from the cell nucleus) of three ancient dog specimens and found evidence of a single dog-wolf divergence occurring between 36,900 and 41,500 YBP.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Prior to genetic divergence, the population of wolves ancestral to the dog outnumbered all other wolf populations, and after divergence the dog population underwent a population reduction to be much lower.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2020, a genomic study of Eurasian wolves found that they and the dog share a common ancestor which is dated to 36,000 YBP. This finding supports the theory that all modern wolves descend from a single population which expanded after the Last Glacial Maximum and replaced other wolf populations that were adapted to different climatic conditions, and the finding of dog-like fossils dated over 30,000 YBP.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Genetic studies have found that the modern dogs from Southeast Asia and South China show greater genetic diversity than those dogs from other regions, suggesting that this was the place of their origin. A similar study found greater genetic diversity in African village dogs than in breed dogs. An East Asian origin has been questioned because dog fossils have been found in Europe dating around 15,000 YBP but only 12,000 YBP in far eastern Russia. The reply is that archaeological studies in East Asia lag behind those in Europe, and that the environmental conditions in southern East Asia do not favor the preservation of fossils. Although primitive forms of the dog may have existed in Europe in the past, the genetic evidence indicates that these were later replaced by dogs that have migrated from southern East Asia. In 2017, a literature review found that this East Asian study sampled only east Asian indigenous dogs and compared their patterns of genetic diversity to those of breed dogs from other geographic regions. As it is known that the genetic bottlenecks associated with formation of breeds strongly reduce genetic diversity, this was not an appropriate comparison.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: One DNA study concluded that dogs originated in Central Asia because dogs from there exhibit the lowest levels of linkage disequilibrium. In 2017, a literature review found that because it is known that the genetic bottlenecks associated with formation of breeds raise linkage disequilibrium, the comparison of purebred with village dogs was not appropriate.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Another DNA study indicated that dogs originated in the Middle East due to the sharing of DNA between dogs and Middle Eastern grey wolves. In 2011, a study found this indication to be incorrect because there had been hybridization between dogs and Middle Eastern grey wolves. In 2012, a study indicated that dogs derived from wolves originating in the Middle East and Europe and this was consistent with the archaeological record. In 2014, a genomic study found that no modern wolf from any region was any more genetically closer to the dog than any other, implying that the dog's ancestor was extinct.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2018, a literature review found that most genetic studies conducted over the last two decades were based on modern dog breeds and extant wolf populations, with their findings dependent on a number of assumptions. These studies assumed that the extant wolf was the ancestor of the dog, did not consider genetic admixture between wolves and dogs, nor the impact of incomplete lineage sorting. These pre-genomic studies have suggested an origin of dogs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, or Europe. More recently, the field of Paleogenomics applies the latest molecular technologies to fossil remains that still contain useful ancient DNA.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2015, a study recovered mDNA from ancient canid specimens that were discovered on Zhokhov Island and the Yana river, arctic Siberia. These specimens included the mandible of a 360,000–400,000 YBP "Canis c.f. variabilis" (where c.f. is a Latin term meaning uncertain). Phylogenetic analyses of these canids revealed nine mDNA haplotypes not detected before. The "Canis c.f. variabilis" specimen clustered with other wolf samples from across Russia and Asia. The mDNA haplotypes of one 8,750 YBP specimen and some 28,000 YBP specimens matched with those of geographically widely-spread modern dogs. One 47,000 YBP canid from Duvanny Yar (which was once a part of western Beringia) was distinct from wolves but was only a few mutations away from those haplotypes found in modern dogs. The authors concluded that the structure of the modern dog gene pool was contributed to from ancient Siberian wolves and possibly from "Canis c.f. variabilis".


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2013, a study looked at the well-preserved skull and left mandible of a dog-like canid that was excavated from Razboinichya Cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. It was dated to 33,300 YBP, which predates the oldest evidence from Western Europe and the Near East The mDNA analysis found it to be more closely related to dogs than wolves. Later in 2013, another study found that the canid could not be classified as a dog nor wolf because it fell between both. In 2017, evolutionary biologists reviewed all of the evidence available on dog divergence and supported the specimens from the Altai mountains as being those of dogs from a lineage that is now extinct, and that was derived from a population of small wolves that is also now extinct.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Phylogenetic analysis showed that modern dog mDNA haplotypes resolve into four monophyletic clades designated by researchers as clades A-D.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2013, a study sequenced the complete and partial mitochondrial genomes of 18 fossil canids from the Old and New Worlds whose dates range from 1,000 to 36,000 YBP, and compared these with the complete mitochondrial genome sequences from modern wolves and dogs. Clade A included 64% of the modern dogs sampled, and these are a sister group to a clade containing three fossil pre-Columbian New World dogs dated between 1,000 and 8,500 YBP. This finding supports the hypothesis that pre-Columbian New World dogs share ancestry with modern dogs and that they likely arrived with the first humans to the New World. Together, clade A and the pre-Columbian fossil dogs were the sister group to a 14,500 YBP wolf found in the near Thayngen in the canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, with a most recent common ancestor estimated to 32,100 YBP.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Clade B included 22% of the dog sequences which related to modern wolves from Sweden and Ukraine, with a common recent ancestor estimated to 9,200 YBP. However, this relationship might represent mitochondrial genome introgression from wolves because dogs were domesticated by this time. Clade C included 12% of the dogs sampled and these were sister to two ancient dogs from the Bonn-Oberkassel cave (14,700 YBP) and the Kartstein cave (12,500 YBP) near Mechernich in Germany, with a common recent ancestor estimated to 16,000–24,000 YBP. Clade D contained sequences from 2 Scandinavian breeds – the Jamthund and Norwegian Elkhound – and is the sister group to another 14,500 YBP wolf sequence also from the Kesserloch cave, with a common recent ancestor estimated to 18,300 YBP. Its branch is phylogenetically rooted in the same sequence as the "Altai dog" (not a direct ancestor). The data from this study indicated a European origin for dogs that was estimated at 18,800–32,100 YBP based on the genetic relationship of 78% of the sampled dogs with ancient canid specimens found in Europe. The data supports the hypothesis that dog domestication preceded the emergence of agriculture and was initiated close to the Last Glacial Maximum when hunter-gatherers preyed on megafauna.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The study found that three ancient Belgium canids (the 36,000 YBP "Goyet dog" cataloged as "Canis" species, along with two specimens dated 30,000 YBP and 26,000 YBP cataloged as "Canis lupus") formed an ancient clade that was the most divergent group. The study found that the skulls of the "Goyet dog" and the "Altai dog" had some dog-like characteristics and proposed that this may have represented an aborted domestication episode. If so, there may have been originally more than one ancient domestication event for dogs as there was for domestic pigs.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: One review considered why the domestication of the wolf occurred so late and at such high latitudes, when humans were living alongside wolves in the Middle East for the past 75,000 years. The proposal is that domestication was a cultural innovation caused through a long and stressful event, which was climate change. Domestication may have happened during one of the five cold Heinrich events that occurred after the arrival of humans in West Europe 37,000, 29,000, 23,000, 16,500, and 12,000 YBP. The theory is that the extreme cold during one of these events caused humans to either shift their location, adapt through a breakdown in their culture and change of their beliefs, or adopt innovative approaches. The adoption of the large wolf/dog was an adaptation to this hostile environment.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: A criticism of the European proposal is that dogs in East Asia show more genetic diversity. However, dramatic differences in genetic diversity can be influenced both by an ancient and recent history of inbreeding. A counter-comment is that the modern European breeds only emerged in the 19th century, and that throughout history global dog populations experienced numerous episodes of diversification and homogenization, with each round further reducing the power of genetic data derived from modern breeds to help infer their early history.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2019, study of wolf samples from northern Italy using very short lengths of mDNA found that two specimens found in the archaeological site near San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna fell within the domestic dog clade A haplogroup, with one being radio-carbon dated 24,700 YBP and the other stratigraphy dated to 20,000 YBP. The 24,700 YBP specimen matched the haplotype of ancient Bulgarian dogs, 2 historical sled dogs from the North American arctic, and 97 modern dogs. The 20,000 YBP specimen matched the haplotype of ancient Iberian and ancient Bulgarian dogs, Roman dogs from Iberia, and 2 historical sled dogs from the North American arctic. Four dog specimens found in the Bronze Age town of Via Ordiere, Solarolo, Italy dated to 3,600–3,280 years ago shared haplotypes with Late Pleistocene wolves and modern dogs.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2020, dog remains were found in two caves, Paglicci Cave and Grotta Romanelli in Apulia, southern Italy. These were dated 14,000 YBP and are the oldest dog remains found in the Mediterranean Basin. One specimen was retrieved from a layer where the sediment was dated 20,000 YBP, indicating the possibility of an earlier timing. The specimens were genetically related to the 14,000 YBP Bonn-Oberkassel dog from Germany and other early dogs from western and central Europe which all fall within the domestic dog mDNA haplogroup C, indicating that these were all derived from a common ancestor. Using genetic timing, this clade's most recent common ancestor dates to 28,500 YBP.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The first dogs were certainly wolflike; however, the phenotypic changes that coincided with the dog–wolf genetic divergence are not known. Identifying the earliest dogs is difficult because the key morphological characters that are used by zooarchaeologists to differentiate domestic dogs from their wild wolf ancestors (size and position of teeth, dental pathologies, and size and proportion of cranial and postcranial elements) were not yet fixed during the initial phases of the domestication process. The range of natural variation among these characters that may have existed in ancient wolf populations, and the time it took for these traits to appear in dogs, are unknown.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The fossil record suggests an evolutionary history that may include both morphologically dog-like wolves and wolf-like dogs. If the earliest dogs followed humans scavenging on carcasses that they left behind, then early selection may have favoured a wolf-like morphology. Perhaps when humans became more sedentary and dogs became closely associated with them was there selection for smaller, phenotypically distinct dogs, even if a reduced body size in dogs may have occurred before agriculture.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: When, where, and how many times wolves may have been domesticated remains debated because only a small number of ancient specimens have been found, and both archaeology and genetics continue to provide conflicting evidence. The most widely accepted earliest dog remains are those of the Bonn-Oberkassel dog which date to 15,000 YBP. Earlier remains dating back to 30,000 YBP have been described as Paleolithic dogs but their status as dogs or wolves remains debated.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: More recent research analysing the genomes of 72 ancient wolves, specimens from Europe, Siberia and North America spanning the past 100,000 years has confirmed that both early and modern dogs are more similar genetically to ancient wolves from Asia than from Europe. This suggests that domestication occurred in the East. The research also found evidence that dogs have a dual ancestry, meaning that two separate populations of wolves contributed DNA to dogs. Early dogs from northeastern Europe, Siberia and the Americas appear to have a single, shared origin from the eastern source. But early dogs from the Middle East, Africa and southern Europe appear to have some ancestry from another source related to wolves in the Middle East, in addition to the eastern source. It is possible that wolves underwent domestication more than once, with different populations then mixing together. Or, that domestication happened once only, and that dual ancestry is related to early dogs then mixing with wild wolves.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The research also demonstrated how wolf DNA changed during the 30,000 generations that were represented in their 100,000-year timeline. This identified the effects of natural selection as particular genes spread within wolf populations. One gene variant, over a period of around 10,000 years, went from being very rare to being present in every wolf, and it is still present in all wolves and dogs today. The variant affects a gene, "IFT88", which is involved in the development of bones in the skull and jaw. It is possible that the spread of this variant could have been driven by a change in the types of prey available during the Ice Age, giving an advantage to wolves with a certain head shape.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: "This is the first time scientists have directly tracked natural selection in a large animal [the wolf] over a time-scale of 100,000 years, seeing evolution play out in real time rather than trying to reconstruct it from DNA today," said study senior author Pontus Skoglund.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Animal domestication is a coevolutionary process in which a population responds to selective pressure while adapting to a novel niche that included another species with evolving behaviors.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: One of the most important transitions in human history was the domestication of animals, which began with the long-term association between wolves and hunter–gatherers more than 15,000 years ago. Dogs were the first domesticated species, the only animal known to have entered into a domestic relationship with humans during the Pleistocene, and the only large carnivore to have been domesticated. It was not until 11,000 YBP that people living in the Near East entered into relationships with wild populations of aurochs, boar, sheep, and goats. A domestication process then began to develop. The earlier association of dogs with humans may have allowed dogs to have a profound influence on the course of early human history and the development of civilization.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The questions of when and where dogs were first domesticated have taxed geneticists and archaeologists for decades. Genetic studies suggest a domestication process commencing over 25,000 YBP, in one or several wolf populations in either Europe, the high Arctic, or eastern Asia. There is clear evidence that dogs were derived from grey wolves during the initial phases of domestication. The wolf population(s) that were involved are likely to be extinct. Despite numerous genetic studies of both modern dogs and ancient dog remains, there is no firm consensus regarding either the timing or location(s) of domestication, the number of wolf populations that were involved, or the long-term effects domestication has had on the dog's genome.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Around 10,000 YBP agriculture was developed resulting in a sedentary lifestyle, along with phenotype divergence of the dog from its wolf ancestors, including variance in size. Two population bottlenecks have occurred to the dog lineage, one due to the initial domestication and one due to the formation of dog breeds.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Humans and wolves both exist in complex social groups. How humans and wolves got together remains unknown. One view holds that domestication is a process that is difficult to define. The term was developed by anthropologists with a human-centric view in which humans took wild animals (ungulates) and bred them to be "domestic", usually in order to provide improved food or materials for human consumption. That term may not be appropriate for a large carnivore such as the dog. This alternate view regards dogs as being either socialized and able to live among humans, or unsocialized. There exist today dogs that live with their human families but are unsocialized and will threaten strangers defensively and aggressively no differently than a wild wolf. There also exists a number of cases where wild wolves have approached people in remote places, attempting to initiate play and to form companionship. One such notable wolf was Romeo, a gentle black wolf that formed relationships with the people and dogs of Juneau, Alaska. This view holds that before there could have been domestication of the wolf, there had to have been its socialization.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Even today, the wolves on Ellesmere Island do not fear humans, which is thought to be due to them seeing humans so little, and they will approach humans cautiously, curiously and closely.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The dog is a classic example of a domestic animal that likely traveled a commensal pathway into domestication. The dog was the first domesticant, and was domesticated and widely established across Eurasia before the end of the Pleistocene, well before cultivation or the domestication of other animals. It may have been inevitable that the first domesticated animal came from the order of carnivores as these are less afraid when approaching other species. Within the carnivores, the first domesticated animal would need to exist without an all-meat diet, possess a running and hunting ability to provide its own food, and be of a controllable size to coexist with humans, indicating the family "Canidae", and the right temperament with wolves being among the most gregarious and cooperative animals on the planet.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Ancient DNA supports the hypothesis that dog domestication preceded the emergence of agriculture and was initiated close to the Last Glacial Maximum when hunter-gatherers preyed on megafauna, and when proto-dogs might have taken advantage of carcasses left on site by early hunters, assisted in the capture of prey, or provided defense from large competing predators at kill-sites. Wolves were probably attracted to human campfires by the smell of meat being cooked and discarded refuse in the vicinity, first loosely attaching themselves and then considering these as part of their home territory where their warning growls would alert humans to the approach of outsiders. The wolves most likely drawn to human camps were the less-aggressive, subdominant pack members with lowered flight response, higher stress thresholds, less wary around humans, and therefore better candidates for domestication.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: On the mammoth steppe the wolf's ability to hunt in packs, to share risk fairly among pack members, and to cooperate moved them to the top of the food chain above lions, hyenas and bears. Some wolves followed the great reindeer herds, eliminating the unfit, the weaklings, the sick and the aged, and therefore improved the herd. These wolves had become the first pastoralists hundreds of thousands of years before humans also took to this role. The wolves' advantage over their competitors was that they were able to keep pace with the herds, move fast and enduringly, and make the most efficient use of their kill by their ability to "wolf down" a large part of their quarry before other predators had detected the kill. One study proposed that during the Last Glacial Maximum, some of our ancestors teamed up with those pastoralist wolves and learned their techniques.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Many of our ancestors remained gatherers and scavengers, or specialized as fish-hunters, hunter-gatherers, and hunter-gardeners. However, some ancestors adopted the pastoralist wolves' lifestyle as herd followers and herders of reindeer, horses, and other hoofed animals. They harvested the best stock for themselves while the wolves kept the herd strong, and this group of humans was to become the first herders and this group of wolves was to become the first dogs.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The remains of large carcasses left by human hunter-gatherers may have led some wolves into entering a migratory relationship with humans. This could have led to their divergence from those wolves that remained in the one territory. A closer relationship between these wolves — or proto-dogs — and humans may have then developed, such as hunting together and mutual defence from other carnivores and other humans. A maternal mDNA, paternal yDNA, and microsatellite assessment of two wolf populations in North America and combined with satellite telemetry data revealed significant genetic and morphological differences between one population that migrated with and preyed upon caribou, and another territorial ecotype population that remained in a boreal coniferous forest. Though these two populations spend a period of the year in the same place, and though there was evidence of gene flow between them, the difference in prey–habitat specialization has been sufficient to maintain genetic and even coloration divergence. A study has identified the remains of a population of extinct Pleistocene Beringian wolves with unique mDNA signatures. The skull shape, tooth wear, and isotopic signatures suggested these were specialist megafauna hunters and scavengers that became extinct while less specialized wolf ecotypes survived. Analogous to the modern wolf ecotype that has evolved to track and prey upon caribou, a Pleistocene wolf population could have begun following mobile hunter-gatherers, thus slowly acquiring genetic and phenotypic differences that would have allowed them to more successfully adapt to the human habitat.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Dogs were the only animal to be domesticated by mobile hunter-gatherers. Humans and wolves were both persistent pack hunters of large prey, were competing in overlapping territory, and are both capable of killing each other. One study proposes how humans may have domesticated such a dangerous competitor. Humans and wolves are members of the large carnivore guild, and when there is abundant game the top members leave carcasses for the other members to scavenge. When game is scarce there is often conflict. Humans are unusual members of this guild because their ancestors were primates, therefore their ability to process meat is limited by the capacity of the liver to metabolize protein, and they can only derive 20% of their energy requirements from protein. High protein consumption in humans can lead to illness.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: During the harsh winters of the Last Glacial Maximum plant foods would have not been available, and meat would not be the favoured food but fat and grease would be, as is prized by some high-latitude dwelling peoples in modern times. Game meat would have been devoid of fat, but the limbs and crania contain fat deposits, and limb bones contain fatty oils. There is evidence of such processing during this period. Wolves are typical carnivores and can survive on a protein-based diet for months. Calculations of the lipid content of arctic and subarctic game available across the cold steppe environment at this time and today shows that in order to gain the necessary quantity of fat and oils, there would have been enough excess animal calories to feed either proto-dogs or wolves with no need for competition. Hunting together and protection from other predators would have been advantageous to both species, leading to domestication.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Domestic dogs exhibit diverse coat colours and patterns. In many mammals, different colour patterns are the result of the regulation of the Agouti gene, which can cause hair follicles to switch from making black or brown pigments to yellow or nearly white pigments. The most common coat pattern found in modern wolves is agouti, in which the upperside of the body has banded hairs and the underside exhibits lighter shading. The colour yellow is dominant to the colour black and is found in dogs across much of the world and the dingo in Australia.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2021, a study of whole genome sequences taken from dogs and wolves focused on the genetic relationships between them based on coat colour. The study found that most dog colour haplotypes were similar to most wolf haplotypes, however dominant yellow in dogs was closely related to white in arctic wolves from North America. This result suggests a common origin for dominant yellow in dogs and white in wolves but without recent gene flow, because this light colour clade was found to be basal to the golden jackal and genetically distinct from all other canids. The most recent common ancestor of the golden jackal and the wolf lineage dates back to 2 million YBP. The study proposes that 35,000 YBP there was genetic introgression into the Late Pleistocene grey wolf from a ghost population of an extinct canid which had diverged from the grey wolf lineage over 2 million YBP. This colour diversity could be found 35,000 YBP in wolves and 9,500 YBP in dogs. A closely related haplotype exists among those wolves of Tibet which possess yellow shading in their coats. The study explains the colour relationships between modern dogs and wolves, white wolves from North America, yellow dogs, and yellowish wolves from Tibet. The study concludes that during the Late Pleistocene, natural selection laid the genetic foundation for modern coat colour diversity in dogs and wolves.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Selection appears to have acted on the dog's metabolic functions to cope with changes in dietary fat, followed later with a dietary increase in starch associated with a more commensal lifestyle.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The dog genome compared to the wolf genome shows signs of having undergone positive selection, these include genes relating to brain function and behavior, and to lipid metabolism. This ability to process lipids indicates a dietary target of selection that was important when proto-dogs hunted and fed alongside hunter-gatherers. The evolution of the dietary metabolism genes may have helped process the increased lipid content of early dog diets as they scavenged on the remains of carcasses left by hunter-gatherers. Prey capture rates may have increased in comparison to wolves and with it the amount of lipid consumed by the assisting proto-dogs. A unique dietary selection pressure may have evolved both from the amount consumed, and the shifting composition of, tissues that were available to proto-dogs once humans had removed the most desirable parts of the carcass for themselves. A study of the mammal biomass during modern human expansion into the northern Mammoth steppe found that it had occurred under conditions of unlimited resources, and that many of the animals were killed with only a small part consumed or were left unused.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: The key phase in domestication appears to have been changes in social behaviour and its corresponding oxytocin receptor genes and neural-related genes. Behaviour differences between dogs and wolves may be contributed by structural variation in the genes that are associated with human Williams-Beuren syndrome. This syndrome causes increased hyper-sociability, which may have been important during domestication.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2014, a whole genome study of the DNA differences between wolves and dogs found that the dogs tameness was not a reduced fear response but did show greater synaptic plasticity. Synaptic plasticity is widely believed to be the cellular correlate of learning and memory. The study proposes that the improved learning and memory abilities of dogs also helped to lower their level of fear around humans.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Unlike other domestic species which were primarily selected for production-related traits, dogs were initially selected for their behaviors. In 2016, a study found that there were only 11 fixed genes that showed variation between wolves and dogs. These gene variations were unlikely to have been the result of natural evolution, and indicate selection on both morphology and behavior during dog domestication. There was evidence of selection during dog domestication of genes that affect the adrenaline and noradrenaline biosynthesis pathway. These genes are involved in the synthesis, transport and degradation of a variety of neurotransmitters, particularly the catecholamines, which include dopamine and noradrenaline. Recurrent selection on this pathway and its role in emotional processing and the fight-or-flight response suggests that the behavioral changes we see in dogs compared to wolves may be due to changes in this pathway, leading to tameness and an emotional processing ability. Dogs generally show reduced fear and aggression compared to wolves. Some of these genes have been associated with aggression in some dog breeds, indicating their importance in both the initial domestication and then later in breed formation.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Differences in hormonal expression that are associated with domestication syndrome may be linked to epigenetic modifications. A recent study that compared the methylation patterns of dogs with those of wolves found 68 significantly different methylated sites. These included sites which are linked to two neurotransmitter genes associated with cognition. There is a direct association between the dog's social behaviour and OXTR, which is a receptor for the neurotransmitter Oxytocin, and this has been caused through the epigenetic methylation of the OXTR gene. DNA methylation differences have been found between wolves and dogs, and between different dog breeds. This implies that epigentic factors may have been important for both dog domestication and the divergence of dog breeds.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Similar to humans, wolves show strong social and emotional bonds within their groupings, and this relationship might have been the foundation for the evolution of dog-human bonding. In 2019, a literature review led to a new theory named Active Social Domestication, in which the social environment of the dog ancestor induced neuro-physiological changes that caused an epigenetic cascade, which led to the rapid development of domestication syndrome.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Being the first domesticated species has created a strong bond between dogs and humans and entwined their histories. There is an extensive list of genes that showed signatures of parallel evolution in dogs and humans. A suite of 311 genes under positive selection in dogs are related to a large number of overlapping loci which show the same patterns in humans, and these play a role in digestion, neurological processes, and some being involved with cancers. This fact can be used to study the coevolution of gene function. Dogs accompanied humans when they first migrated into new environments. Both dogs and humans have adapted to different environmental conditions, with their genomes showing parallel evolution. These include adaptation to high altitude, low oxygen hypoxia conditions, and genes that play a role in digestion, metabolism, neurological processes, and some related to cancer. It can be inferred from those genes which act on the serotonin system in the brain that these have given rise to less aggressive behavior when living in a crowded environment. Dogs suffer from the same common diseases – such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and neurological disorders – as do humans. The underlying disease pathology is similar to humans, as is their responses and outcomes to treatment.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Convergent evolution is when distantly related species independently evolve similar solutions to the same problem. For example, fish, penguins and dolphins have each separately evolved flippers as a solution to the problem of moving through the water. What has been found between dogs and humans is something less frequently demonstrated: psychological convergence. Dogs have independently evolved to be cognitively more similar to humans than we are to our closest genetic relatives. Dogs have evolved specialized skills for reading human social and communicative behavior. These skills seem more flexible – and possibly more human-like – than those of other animals more closely related to humans phylogenetically, such as chimpanzees, bonobos and other great apes. This raises the possibility that convergent evolution has occurred: both "Canis familiaris" and "Homo sapiens" might have evolved some similar (although obviously not identical) social-communicative skills – in both cases adapted for certain kinds of social and communicative interactions with human beings.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Studies support coevolution in that dogs can follow the human pointing gesture, discriminate the emotional expressions of human faces, and that most people can tell from a bark whether a dog is alone, being approached by a stranger, playing, or being aggressive, and can tell from a growl how big the dog is.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2015, a study found that when dogs and their owners interact, extended eye contact (mutual gaze) increases oxytocin levels in both the dog and its owner. As oxytocin is known for its role in maternal bonding, it is considered likely that this effect has supported the coevolution of human-dog bonding.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2002, a study proposed that immediate human ancestors and wolves may have domesticated each other through a strategic alliance that would change both respectively into humans and dogs. The effects of human psychology, hunting practices, territoriality and social behavior would have been profound.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Early humans moved from scavenging and small-game hunting to big-game hunting by living in larger, socially more-complex groups, learning to hunt in packs, and developing powers of cooperation and negotiation in complex situations. As these are characteristics of wolves, dogs and humans, it can be argued that these behaviors were enhanced once wolves and humans began to cohabit. Communal hunting led to communal defense. Wolves actively patrol and defend their scent-marked territory, and perhaps humans had their sense of territoriality enhanced by living with wolves. One of the keys to recent human survival has been the forming of partnerships. Strong bonds exist between same-sex wolves, dogs and humans, and these bonds are stronger than exist between other same-sex animal pairs. Today, the most widespread form of inter-species bonding occurs between humans and dogs. The concept of friendship has ancient origins, but it may have been enhanced through the inter-species relationship to give a survival advantage.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2003, a study compared the behavior and ethics of chimpanzees, wolves and humans. Cooperation among humans' closest genetic relative is limited to occasional hunting episodes or the persecution of a competitor for personal advantage, which had to be tempered if humans were to become domesticated. One might therefore argue that the closest approximation to human morality that can be found in nature is that of the grey wolf. Wolves are among the most gregarious and cooperative of animals on the planet, and their ability to cooperate in well-coordinated drives to hunt prey, carry items too heavy for an individual, provisioning not only their own young but also the other pack members, babysitting etc. are rivaled only by that of human societies. Similar forms of cooperation are observed in two closely related canids, the African wild dog and the Asian dhole, therefore it is reasonable to assume that canid sociality and cooperation are old traits that in terms of evolution predate human sociality and cooperation. Today's wolves may even be less social than their ancestors, as they have lost access to large herds of ungulates and now tend more toward a lifestyle similar to coyotes, jackals, and even foxes. Social sharing within families may be a trait that early humans learned from wolves, and, with wolves digging dens long before humans constructed huts, it is not clear who domesticated whom.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Savolainen looking at mitchcondrial DNA shows that an initial phase of dog domestication began in China or Southeast Asia 33, 000 years ago, and a second phase 18, 000 years later in which the dog migrated out of Southeast Asia towards Africa and the Middle East. Arriving in Europe, around 10 000 years ago, giving rise to modern dog breeds.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Savolainen pointed out that many studies that contradicted the origin of dog domestication from China or elsewhere in Southeast Asia, did not include wolf or dog samples from China or Southeast Asia.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: Locating the origin of dogs is made difficult by the lack of data on extinct Pleistocene wolves, the small morphological changes that occurred between wild and domestic populations during the first phases of domestication, and the lack of an accompanying human material culture at this time.


title: Domestication of the dog

text: In 2016, a genetic study found that ancient and modern dogs fall into an Eastern Eurasian clade and a Western Eurasian clade. In 2017, another genetic study found evidence of a single dog-wolf divergence occurring between 36,900 and 41,500 YBP, followed by a divergence between Eastern Eurasian and Western Eurasian dogs 17,500–23,900 YBP and this indicates a single dog domestication event occurring between 20,000 and 40,000 YBP.