NEWS AND VIEWS: If you thought that small dogs were a modern concept you will have to think again after archaeologists working near one of South Oxfordshire’s most iconic landmarks, the Whittenham Clumps, unearthed the bones of a small dog which they have decided would …
This is about the origin of the phrase ‘dog days’ because the origin informs us why we use the phrase. Dog days cover the hottest time of the year from July 3rd to August 11th. It originates in Roman times according to Dr Desmond Morris …
There has been a lot of discussion on this topic over the years as it is a fundamental question and I believe that it is still an ongoing discussion. However, we have the benefit of a new study published in the journal Nature a few …
A recent study published Cambridge University Press has discovered that the Neolithic builders of Stonehenge suffered from endoparasites which they had contracted from the raw foods that they ate or the food was undercooked. The researchers analysed 19 samples of fossilised faeces in a “midden” …
NEWS AND COMMENT-HARRIS COUNTY, USA: On May 3, Sherry Noppe and her black Labrador, Max, went for an afternoon walk in a large, wooded park at the edge of Katy, near Houston. She deviated from the track and unfortunately fell into a thicket. She lay …
I find this to be another example of human superstition and ignorance. We have to accept that in the past people were more ignorant than today although ignorance clearly exists today. It is possible or even probable that dogs are still abused and sacrificed for …
The first reason why some dog breeds have such short legs is because of a genetic mutation which is believed to have occurred early on in the evolution of domestic dogs and sometime after the ancestor of modern dog breeds diverged from wolves. This mutation …
A recent study found that when humans transferred from being hunter-gatherers to farming their pet dogs’ diet changed from meat to plant-based foods. When grey wolves first became domesticated and became domestic dogs they would have been eating meat almost exclusively but with the advent …
A recent study from Washington State University concluded that three factors influenced the success of the domestication of the dog. These are: The relationship between domestic dogs and women was beneficial to the dog-human relationship as it encouraged humans to regard dogs as a ‘type …
