Professor Emeritus Paul Sciulli, was part of a large team that recently published a massive paper in Science on the origins of dogs in the Americas! In their article “America’s lost dogs" the authors explore the genetic history of precontact dogs—those that arrived in the Americas with early human settlers over 10,000 years ago. Through genomic analysis of ancient and modern dog DNA, researchers found that these early dogs formed a distinct lineage, likely descended from Siberian sled dogs, but left almost no genetic trace in today’s American dog populations. Surprisingly, their closest living relative is a contagious canine cancer that still carries their DNA. The study highlights the mystery of how these dogs, once widespread and integral to Indigenous cultures, nearly vanished following European colonization

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