The Reality Check Episode 53

Pet Domestication + Joe Nickell Interview + Monkey Descent Myth

Dog Domestication

 Part 1:

Pet domestication is basically when a species has become custom to human control through selection.

So, first we are talking about domestic cats. Domesticated cats can still easily mate with the other cats living in the "wild", not those cats living off food humans threw away. 

So, how did cats get domesticated? Basically, the humans don't finish all their food at once, and rats and other small rodents come to scavenge for food. The cats that are can tolerate humans are the ones that got domesticated. At first, the humans didn't really care if they were there or not; so we can actually say that the cats kind of domesticated themselves. Then humans realized that they are useful and decided to keep them. Kind of a natural selection for the cats. So, the cats domesticated themselves for us, not humans forcing them to stay.

There was a time when people thought cats were correlated with witchcraft, and so during that time, the number of domesticated cats were extremely low. That was when the Black Plague happened. The rodents the cats hunt and eat are the ones spreading the plague. The Black Plague originated from China, but nothing severe happened in China because there were plenty of cats around. But, for Europe, it was a disaster. 

But, cats seem to mostly look quite similar, while dogs on the other hand have a large variety. Cats seem to be able to do all things quite equally, and some dogs on the other hand are breed for a specialized job or task. 

so, how did dogs become domesticated? Well, their ancestors are the grey wolf. The mitochondria evidence told us they split around 100000 years ago. Dog domestication happened around 30 to 40 thousand years ago. The reason it happened was probably because there are many things dogs can help the humans with, and many things the humans can help dogs with, which makes them a great team.  

It seems clear that dog domestication was a long process, which started far longer ago than was believed even as recently as 2008. Based on evidence from Goyet and Chauvet caves in Europe, the dog domestication process probably began as long ago as 30000 years, although the olderst evidence for a broader relationship, a working relationship, is at the Bonn-Oberkassel site, 14000 years ago. The story of dog domestication is still in transition itself. 

The evidence of "real" domestication is at a burial site in Germany called Bonn-Oberkassel has joint human and dog interments dated around 14000 years ago. The earliest domesticated dog found in China is at the early Neolithic (7000-5800BC) Jiahu site in Henan Province. European Mesolithic sites like Skateholm (5250-3700BC) in Sweden have dog burials, proving the value of the furry beats to hunter-gatherer settlements. Danger Cave in Utah is the earliest care of dog burial in the Americas, at about 11000 years ago. 

Joe Nickell

Part 2: 

Interview with Joe Nickell!

Joe Nickell is a prominent skeptical investigator of the paranormal. He also works as an historical document consultant and has helped expose such famous forgeries as the purported diary of jack the Ripper. It has been accepted that the book was Victorian in origin and had previously been used as a scrapbook or photograph album - the first 12 pages had been taken out, no doubt because it was impossible to remove the items that had been stuck to them in a way that left the pages usable. The forger therefore cut the pages out, perhaps thinking that this added to he "mystery" of the book, and began his narrative in mid-sentence, making sure that it was not difficult to work out how the sentence had begun. Joe Nickell analysed some stains on the inside cover of the book and found that they were made by post-Victorian roll film photographs. That meant that the book was in use long after the death of James Maybrick, whose diary the book purported to be.

Nickell is a senior Research Fellow for the Center of Inquiry (CFI) and is a member of its Executive Council. He writes regularly for their journal, the Skeptical Inquirer. He is also an associate dean of the Center for Inquiry Institute. He has worked professionally as a private investigator, journalist, and university instructor, and is the author or editor of several books.

Listen to Joe Nickell's Interview here: The Reality Check Episode 53

Science Myth of the Week: 

Did humans evolve from monkeys?

NO, OF COURSE NOT. We have a common ancestor, but we did not evolve from them.