Origin of the domestic dog as the Tibetan people. A population genetic analysis then showed a significant convergence between humans and dogs in Tibet. Like the Tibetan people, Tibetan mastiffs appear to have derived these benefits partially from the EPAS1 gene, acquired through introgression. In 2015, a study found that when dogs and their owners interact, extended eye contact (mutual gaze) increases oxytocin levels in both the dog and its owner. As oxytocin is known for its role in maternal bonding, it is considered likely that this effect has supported the coevolution of human-dog bonding. One observer has stated, "The dog could have arisen only
New Guinea singing dog gray wolf, the dog is not a descendant of the extant gray wolf but these are sister taxa which share a common ancestor from a ghost population of wolves that went extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene, and the dog and the dingo are not separate species. The dingo and the basenji are basal members of the domestic dog clade. "The term basal taxon refers to a lineage that diverges early in the history of the group and lies on a branch that originates near the common ancestor of the group." Mitochondrial genome sequences indicates that the dingo