Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
three years later, she was determinedly gnawing a bone, in this case from
an old tiger sambar kill. As soon as she caught wind of us she melted into
the undergrowth.
So, if wolves played such an intimate role in Indian life, and interac-
tions were so common, why were dogs apparently never domesticated from
Indian wolves?
Mitochondrial DNA evidence shows that Indian wolves form a distinct
evolutionary branch from that of the Tibetan and Asiatic wolves to the north.
The Indian wolf parted company from the wolves north of the Himalayas
almost half a million years ago, and it is distinct enough to merit a dif erent
species name,
Canis indica
.
Thus, if dogs had been domesticated from Indian wolves, they would
carry a clear genetic signal of their Indian origin. The most likely candidates
Figure 89
An Indian wolf,
Canis indica
, at Ranthambhore. Although they are separated
from Asiatic wolves by half a million years of divergent evolution, these wolves would seem to
be eminently tamable. But there is no evidence that they were ever domesticated.
