Origin of the domestic dog or the result of natural introgression as the dog expanded across Eurasia. In 2018, a study found a small amount of dog ancestry in 62% of Eurasian wolf specimens looked at, that hybridization had occurred across a wide number of timescales and not just recently, however in contrast there was almost no admixture detected in the North American specimens. There was introgression of the male dog into the wolf, but also one hybrid detected which was the result of a male wolf crossed with a female dog. Wolves have maintained their phenotype differences from the dog, which indicates low-frequency hybridization.
Origin of the domestic dog wolf and dog populations diverged from a common ancestor between 20,000 and 60,000 YBP. This indicates that either dogs were domesticated much earlier than their first appearance in the archaeological record, or they arrived in the Arctic early, or both. Charles Darwin recognized the small number of traits that made domestic species different from their wild ancestors. He was also the first to recognize the difference between conscious selective breeding in which humans directly select for desirable traits, and unconscious selection where traits evolve as a by-product of natural selection or from selection on other traits. Domestic animals have variations