New research suggests that wolves may have evolved into dogs without direct human intervention, simply by scavenging human leftovers. A mathematical model published in Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences indicates that under the right conditions, this transformation could have occurred in just 8,000 years.
For decades, scientists have debated whether early humans actively tamed wolves or if certain wolves, drawn to human settlements, domesticated themselves. The new model supports the “self-domestication” hypothesis, proposing that wolves that were less aggressive and more tolerant of humans thrived by scavenging food scraps. Over generations, these tamer wolves bred with each other, leading to the emergence of early domesticated dogs.
Alex Capaldi, a theoretical ecologist at James Madison University, explains that while humans have been selectively breeding dogs for specific traits for the past 15,000 years, the origins of dog domestication—stretching back at least 30,000 years—remain unclear. Some scientists suggest that humans adopted and raised wolf pups, while others believe wolves played an active role in their own domestication by seeking out human-provided resources.
The idea that wolves could have self-domesticated was popularized in modern media, including Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, where Neil deGrasse Tyson described wolves gradually adapting to human environments. Inspired by this concept, Capaldi set out to test whether such a scenario was mathematically feasible—and found that it was.
The findings add weight to the idea that, rather than being intentionally bred by early humans, dogs may have emerged naturally as a result of their ancestors choosing proximity to people and easy food. While the debate over dog domestication continues, this research suggests that our closest animal companions may have had a bigger role in their own evolution than previously thought.