Do Indigenous American Peoples’ Stories Inform the Study of Dog Domestication

Bibliographic Data

ID6144403
AuthorsL David Mech (0000-0003-3944-7769, United States Geological Survey, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume10
Issue1
Pages69-75
Publication date2019-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnobiology Letters (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2159-8126 • E-ISSN: 2159-8126
PublisherSociety of Ethnobiology (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.14237/ebl.10.1.2019.1474
OpenAlexW2971817249
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited9

I discuss the article “Relationships Between Indigenous American Peoples and Wolves 1: Wolves as Teachers and Guides” (Fogg et al. 2015) and the book “The First Domestication: How Wolves and Humans Coevolved” (Pierotti and Fogg 2017). The article proposed that published stories about interactions between indigenous American peoples and wolves (Canis lupus) provide insight into wolf-human relationships as humans began domesticating wolves. In the book, the authors offer a theory of how wolves and humans coevolved by building on the information in the article and the authors’ long experience with captive and pet wolves, wolf-dog hybrids, and dogs. I (1) present arguments and evidence that question the value of indigenous American stories for drawing conclusions about the relationship between early humans and wolves 14,000 yrs BP; (2) demonstrate how indigenous American stories contradict documented information about wolf biology, behavior, and known interactions with humans; and (3) point out important information not considered by the authors about wolf attacks on humans and the importance of rabies in the wolf-human relationship

Biology · Canis · Domestication · Environmental ethics · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Gray wolf · Indigenous · Indigenous culture · Sociology · Anthropology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Philosophy · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation · Ecology

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