# Dogs

By [Pauk](https://paragraph.com/@pauk) · 2024-01-17

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The **dog** (**_Canis familiaris_** or **_Canis lupus familiaris_**) is a [domesticated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated) descendant of the [wolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf). Also called the **domestic dog**, it is [derived](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestication_of_the_dog) from [extinct gray wolves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_wolf), and the gray wolf is the dog's closest living relative. The dog was the first [species](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species) to be domesticated by [humans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human). [Hunter-gatherers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer) did this, over 15,000 years ago in [Oberkassel, Bonn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberkassel,_Bonn), which was before the [development of agriculture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture). Due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals and gained the ability to thrive on a [starch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch)\-rich diet that would be inadequate for other [canids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canidae).

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*Originally published on [Pauk](https://paragraph.com/@pauk/dogs)*