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Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History
Xiaoming Wang and Richard H. Tedford have spent the past 20 years studying the evolutionary history of the family Canidae. Both are well known for having established the modern framework for the evolutionary relationship of canids. Combining their research with Mauricio Antón's impeccable reconstructions of both extinct and extant species, Wang and Tedford present a remarkably detailed and nuanced portrait of the origin and evolution of canids over the past 40 million years.
The authors cull their history from the most recent scientific research conducted on the vast collections of the American Museum of Natural History and other leading institutions. The fossil record of the Canidae, particularly those from their birth place in North America, are the strongest of their kind among known groups of carnivorans. Such a wonderfully detailed evolutionary history provides access to a natural history that is not possible with many other groups of carnivorans.
With their rich fossil record, diverse adaptations to various environments, and different predatory specializations, canids are an ideal model organism for the mapping of predator behavior and morphological specializations. They also offer an excellent contrast to felids, which remain entrenched in extreme predatory specializations. The innovative illustrated approach in this book is the perfect accompaniment to an extremely important branch of animal and fossil study. It transforms the science of paleontology into a thrilling visual experience and provides an unprecedented reference for anyone fascinated by dogs.
The authors cull their history from the most recent scientific research conducted on the vast collections of the American Museum of Natural History and other leading institutions. The fossil record of the Canidae, particularly those from their birth place in North America, are the strongest of their kind among known groups of carnivorans. Such a wonderfully detailed evolutionary history provides access to a natural history that is not possible with many other groups of carnivorans.
With their rich fossil record, diverse adaptations to various environments, and different predatory specializations, canids are an ideal model organism for the mapping of predator behavior and morphological specializations. They also offer an excellent contrast to felids, which remain entrenched in extreme predatory specializations. The innovative illustrated approach in this book is the perfect accompaniment to an extremely important branch of animal and fossil study. It transforms the science of paleontology into a thrilling visual experience and provides an unprecedented reference for anyone fascinated by dogs.
219 pages, Hardcover
First published June 6, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 5, 2022
On first glance, one might see the beautiful animal sketches and majestic landscape images in Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives & Evolutionary History and take the book to be a light, rudimentary description of dogs and their ancestors. They would be sorely mistaken. Rather, Dogs, written by Xiaoming Wang and Richard H. Tedford, is a comprehensive narrative of fossil analysis and canid evolution with specialized language and a heavy paleontological focus. Despite the technical nature of the subject, the authors do a good job of conveying concepts in a manner that is both engaging and understandable. As a result, anyone with even a slight interest in paleontology and the origins of the numerous canine species we have today will find this book incredibly valuable and informative.
I am one of these people, and so, equipped as I was with a cursory knowledge of paleontology and a love of all things canine, I very much enjoyed the book. My only lament is that the first half of the book reads more like a list of species rather than a story of the early evolutionary history of Canids. But once you are past the initial few chapters, the subsequent ones are far more interesting. Here, the authors capture your imagination and transport you through time with a cursory introduction to fossils and their analysis, descriptions of the behavior of canids and the environments around them, dispersals of canids across the world, and an appropriate ending on the domestication of the dog into man’s best friend, Canis familiaris.
Overall, the book paints a beautiful picture of canid evolution within the larger scope of mammalian evolutionary history. From ‘bear-dogs’ to early hyenas, the place of canids in the evolutionary tree is easily understood. Yet despite having such a broad scope, the authors are also able to zoom in with exquisite detail, explaining how small details on a skeleton can reveal massive amounts of information. I learned bones can give clues to traces of muscle, limbs can reveal the animals weight and locomotion style and that teeth are “the single greatest source of information” about a fossil (pg. 69). No stone is left unturned.
In fact, it seems almost impossible to absorb all the information contained within the text (the book is altogether devoid of fluff). Instead, one ought to read it with a selective eye for details that stand out: I very often had my mind blown by a fact that was inconspicuously thrown into the text in one place or another. For example, I learned that canids failed to develop retractable claws early in their evolutionary history and that this inability may have led to their adoption of a social hunting strategy. Without retractable claws, the ends of their claws become far blunter over time than those of a cat, for example. Blunter claws mean a harder time securing prey and thus a reliance on others to help you. That reliance has led to the social hunters that we know today. Fascinating details like this are hiding throughout the text, waiting to be discovered.
While reading Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives & Evolutionary History, be prepared to meet fascinating new species like the Daphoenodon superbus and catch the paleontological bug (or learn to resent it if terms like ‘maxilloturbinates’ or ‘nuchal ligament’ are not for you). You will be brought along in the evolution of canids as they disperse all over the world and fall in love with dogs all over again as they become man’s best friend, helping our early hominid ancestors disperse into North America and Australia.
I am one of these people, and so, equipped as I was with a cursory knowledge of paleontology and a love of all things canine, I very much enjoyed the book. My only lament is that the first half of the book reads more like a list of species rather than a story of the early evolutionary history of Canids. But once you are past the initial few chapters, the subsequent ones are far more interesting. Here, the authors capture your imagination and transport you through time with a cursory introduction to fossils and their analysis, descriptions of the behavior of canids and the environments around them, dispersals of canids across the world, and an appropriate ending on the domestication of the dog into man’s best friend, Canis familiaris.
Overall, the book paints a beautiful picture of canid evolution within the larger scope of mammalian evolutionary history. From ‘bear-dogs’ to early hyenas, the place of canids in the evolutionary tree is easily understood. Yet despite having such a broad scope, the authors are also able to zoom in with exquisite detail, explaining how small details on a skeleton can reveal massive amounts of information. I learned bones can give clues to traces of muscle, limbs can reveal the animals weight and locomotion style and that teeth are “the single greatest source of information” about a fossil (pg. 69). No stone is left unturned.
In fact, it seems almost impossible to absorb all the information contained within the text (the book is altogether devoid of fluff). Instead, one ought to read it with a selective eye for details that stand out: I very often had my mind blown by a fact that was inconspicuously thrown into the text in one place or another. For example, I learned that canids failed to develop retractable claws early in their evolutionary history and that this inability may have led to their adoption of a social hunting strategy. Without retractable claws, the ends of their claws become far blunter over time than those of a cat, for example. Blunter claws mean a harder time securing prey and thus a reliance on others to help you. That reliance has led to the social hunters that we know today. Fascinating details like this are hiding throughout the text, waiting to be discovered.
While reading Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives & Evolutionary History, be prepared to meet fascinating new species like the Daphoenodon superbus and catch the paleontological bug (or learn to resent it if terms like ‘maxilloturbinates’ or ‘nuchal ligament’ are not for you). You will be brought along in the evolution of canids as they disperse all over the world and fall in love with dogs all over again as they become man’s best friend, helping our early hominid ancestors disperse into North America and Australia.
March 10, 2010
Beware! This is not "A breezy and highly engaging romp through the rich history of the Canidae," as the back cover promises. It is a highly technical scientific study of the evolution of dogs starting with the first carnivores in North America 65 million years ago, and takes you on a journey with canidae you've probably never heard of like aeturudons and boraphagine, among others. It is of interest to people who are interested in how dogs evolved and why, although it is rather thin on the "why" of canis familiaris, our pet dogs. It may also be of interest to those interested in evolution itself and how examining fossils tells us much about the behavior of the now extinct creatures. It also has an interesting comparison between the felids and canidae, who are far less alike than I ever realized. I was especially interested in how and why such features as retractable claws or short necks, not to mention various kinds of teeth were felicitous for different kinds of hunting and food gathering.
April 30, 2020
There are 2 things that really stood out to me about this book:
1. Teeth. I went in with a background in invertebrate paleontology and I never listen to my dentist. Throughout the book, the author described, illustrated, and explained the role of different types of teeth and how they can be used to study both morphology and for identification.
2. Context. The book is about dogs, but the author explains the broader contexts of mammalian evolution and Carnivora. In particular, the author frequently compares dogs to bears, cats, and hyeanas in terms of phylogeny, morphology, and evolutionary history. The author even included a helpful appendix with a phylogenetic tree mapped against geological type, along with numerous diagrams showing variance in biodiversity over time. This really helps places dogs in the broader context of both mammalian evolution and earth history.
1. Teeth. I went in with a background in invertebrate paleontology and I never listen to my dentist. Throughout the book, the author described, illustrated, and explained the role of different types of teeth and how they can be used to study both morphology and for identification.
2. Context. The book is about dogs, but the author explains the broader contexts of mammalian evolution and Carnivora. In particular, the author frequently compares dogs to bears, cats, and hyeanas in terms of phylogeny, morphology, and evolutionary history. The author even included a helpful appendix with a phylogenetic tree mapped against geological type, along with numerous diagrams showing variance in biodiversity over time. This really helps places dogs in the broader context of both mammalian evolution and earth history.
July 2, 2016
This book presents a good overview on the evolutionary history of dogs (Family Canidae), their phylogeny and their lifestyle.
Moreover, It discusses the modern classification of domestic dogs and whether it is a distinct species that is separated from the gray wolf species. To understand this issue correctly, the authors suggest the distinction between two modes of classification of species: Biological Concept and Evolutionary Concept. Based on the biological species concept, gray wolves and domestic dogs are members of the same biological species because they , however live in nature separately, can mate and reproduce fertile offspring in normal cases. Evolutionary concept of species is based on the notion that as long as the domestic dog and the gray wolf diverged from each other in living, they embarked on different pathways leading to different descendant lineages and speciation has occurred.
Also the book provides a perfect chapter on the domestication of dog and its story. The dog was the first animal to be domesticated by man before any other carnivore or even herbivore. This makes us think that it was a special domestication story. Self-domestication is one good theory that suggests that the relationship between man and wild dog was at the beginning symbiotic; the dog followed the haunter-gatherer man in their trips making benefits from the food leftover the man leaves behind and, on the other, the presence of this wild animal near the man territory prevent other dangerous wild animal from getting closer.
The book contains many figures, illustrations and drawings that make understanding easier and more interesting!
If you are interested in dogs and wolves, you will like this book for sure!
Moreover, It discusses the modern classification of domestic dogs and whether it is a distinct species that is separated from the gray wolf species. To understand this issue correctly, the authors suggest the distinction between two modes of classification of species: Biological Concept and Evolutionary Concept. Based on the biological species concept, gray wolves and domestic dogs are members of the same biological species because they , however live in nature separately, can mate and reproduce fertile offspring in normal cases. Evolutionary concept of species is based on the notion that as long as the domestic dog and the gray wolf diverged from each other in living, they embarked on different pathways leading to different descendant lineages and speciation has occurred.
Also the book provides a perfect chapter on the domestication of dog and its story. The dog was the first animal to be domesticated by man before any other carnivore or even herbivore. This makes us think that it was a special domestication story. Self-domestication is one good theory that suggests that the relationship between man and wild dog was at the beginning symbiotic; the dog followed the haunter-gatherer man in their trips making benefits from the food leftover the man leaves behind and, on the other, the presence of this wild animal near the man territory prevent other dangerous wild animal from getting closer.
The book contains many figures, illustrations and drawings that make understanding easier and more interesting!
If you are interested in dogs and wolves, you will like this book for sure!
October 30, 2012
This book is pretty cool. The illustrations are really clear and well executed. The text is engaging and understandable. It's not light reading, but it sure is educational!
August 3, 2021
I thought the title of this book was very self explanatory, and it did not disappoint. This book indeed was a very comprehensive summary of fossil dogs, and their evolution. It also did a great job in placing the various sub-families and species in context, such as in relation to Earth's climates in those times, or what kind of ecological niches these dogs might have occupied. The book is very well written, very approachable, but doesn't shy away from using any technical language, especially when it comes to anatomy (and anatomy plays a huge role of course, since we are dealing almost entirely with fossil animals here). As usual, the amazingly detailed drawings of Mauricio Anton help a lot here, both of skeletons, or the amazingly life-like panoramas that are included in the book.
Since for much of their history, canids have been restricted to North America, the book necessarily does not dwell on other continents till the dogs finally end up there. It just shows how quickly the science is moving on this front, that the final section on dire wolves is already outdated in this book thanks to new genetic evidence (which shows that dire wolves are not closely related to modern wolves at all, and are an entirely North American lineage whose ancestry has to still be disentangled).
If there was one quibble I had with the book, it is that the last section on modern canids did not clear up any of my own lingering doubts: such as what is the ancestry of the coyote, we know it is wholly North American, but just how is it related to the modern grey wolf, and golden jackal (and another new species described after this book came out, the golden wolf); related to that is the complicated evolution of the red wolf, and how this species might be related to the coyote and grey wolf; and finally, is it time to overhaul modern canid taxonomy, with the smaller African jackals still bearing the Canis genera name, and hence indicating evolutionary closeness to grey wolves, Ethiopian wolves, golden jackals, and coyotes, while they are actually more evolutionarily distant to these species than the dhole and African painted dog, which both have their own distinct genera name.
Perhaps these issues were completely sidestepped because these debates are complicated now by genetics, which doesn't seem to be the authors' area of expertise (if I were to guess, I would say they were trained comparative anatomists). We are only able to say now that which species is closely related to what with confidence, thanks to genetics, and this is further complicated by the fact that some canid species have interbred in the past, and are interbreeding (such as grey wolves, coyotes, red wolves, and domestic dogs), completely muddying those waters. Maybe this was why the authors completely avoided this thorny issue. We now know just how complicated relying only on body plans is for classification of these species, because it was beyond doubt that dire wolves and grey wolves were closely related based on anatomy, till genetics completely upended this.
All in all, minor idiosyncratic quibbles apart, this was a very well written, very comprehensive summary of fossil dogs and their relatives.
Since for much of their history, canids have been restricted to North America, the book necessarily does not dwell on other continents till the dogs finally end up there. It just shows how quickly the science is moving on this front, that the final section on dire wolves is already outdated in this book thanks to new genetic evidence (which shows that dire wolves are not closely related to modern wolves at all, and are an entirely North American lineage whose ancestry has to still be disentangled).
If there was one quibble I had with the book, it is that the last section on modern canids did not clear up any of my own lingering doubts: such as what is the ancestry of the coyote, we know it is wholly North American, but just how is it related to the modern grey wolf, and golden jackal (and another new species described after this book came out, the golden wolf); related to that is the complicated evolution of the red wolf, and how this species might be related to the coyote and grey wolf; and finally, is it time to overhaul modern canid taxonomy, with the smaller African jackals still bearing the Canis genera name, and hence indicating evolutionary closeness to grey wolves, Ethiopian wolves, golden jackals, and coyotes, while they are actually more evolutionarily distant to these species than the dhole and African painted dog, which both have their own distinct genera name.
Perhaps these issues were completely sidestepped because these debates are complicated now by genetics, which doesn't seem to be the authors' area of expertise (if I were to guess, I would say they were trained comparative anatomists). We are only able to say now that which species is closely related to what with confidence, thanks to genetics, and this is further complicated by the fact that some canid species have interbred in the past, and are interbreeding (such as grey wolves, coyotes, red wolves, and domestic dogs), completely muddying those waters. Maybe this was why the authors completely avoided this thorny issue. We now know just how complicated relying only on body plans is for classification of these species, because it was beyond doubt that dire wolves and grey wolves were closely related based on anatomy, till genetics completely upended this.
All in all, minor idiosyncratic quibbles apart, this was a very well written, very comprehensive summary of fossil dogs and their relatives.
October 23, 2025
The most complete and deep dive into canidae I’ve seen. As someone getting into canid paleontology, I can say every expert recommends this book. It’s not quite pop-sci; not sure I’d recommend it to the non biologist. But it certainly is a thorough and well written introduction to canids for anyone with a minimum of biology training
August 13, 2025
If you really want to know everything about the evolution of dogs -- and I mean everything -- this is the book for you. It is not for casual reading by the sea since it is quite academic. More like a textbook. The artwork is very good as well.
August 27, 2023
Written in a technical style, throughout, it was not a comfortable read. Some interesting points if you plow through, but not a lot of payoff for the effort.
November 22, 2009
I was hoping this would have more information about the recent evolution of dogs, but I suppose that book would not be written by paleontologists specializing in ancient dog-like animals.
This book was approachable in that each section was concise. This book was inapproachable in that the word choices were very specialized, and the glossary was not inclusive enough.
I did learn a lot about the canine body and what it has evolved to do, but I found myself wanting to learn more about canine-human coevolution and this book only mentioned the most popular current ideas.
This book is great for a cursory read about where dogs came from, especially the second half. The first half reads a bit like a list of very similar extinct dog-like species and what we know about them based on their fossilized remains.
This book was approachable in that each section was concise. This book was inapproachable in that the word choices were very specialized, and the glossary was not inclusive enough.
I did learn a lot about the canine body and what it has evolved to do, but I found myself wanting to learn more about canine-human coevolution and this book only mentioned the most popular current ideas.
This book is great for a cursory read about where dogs came from, especially the second half. The first half reads a bit like a list of very similar extinct dog-like species and what we know about them based on their fossilized remains.
August 23, 2024
Even with the best intentions in the world it's often hard to make paleozoology a crisp and understandable topic, but the authors do hit their marks, with an assist from Mauricio Anton's fine artistic conceptions. Perhaps the most interesting part to me was not the portions dealing with dogs as we know them, but those animals of the wider family that evolved in parallel, such as so-called "bone-eaters" that somewhat paralleled the hyenas in life style (an example of which graces the cover of the book).
Originally written: February 12, 2020.
Originally written: February 12, 2020.
March 24, 2016
I almost gave up, but once I got past chapter 3 it was more of pull than a push. It's an interesting look at the various branches of the canid family tree, that like the hominim tree was much 'bushier' in the past than it is today. It was interesting to learn that the degree to which canids have been carnivores has varied considerably over their history, and why dogs have long noses and cats have short ones.
December 22, 2014
A thorough and scientific treatment of the evolution of dogs, including the latest thinking on when, how and why they were domesticated. Evidence points to dogs being the first animal domesticated by humans, was it a mutual choice, selection by humans and why a predator? Interesting questions touched on by the bog as well as a good survey of the fossil record so far as it is known. Anyone interested in the evolution of the dog will benefit from reading this book.
February 18, 2023
Very educational, pleasant writing voice of the author and comes with tons of beautiful and helpful illustrations.
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
September 5, 2018
The Dog's Tale!
Our "best friend" has been with us for about 30,000 years and holds the title of being one of the first domesticated animal *. If you go back even further in time, to about 100,000 BP, you might find the first lineage of the dog as it split off from the gray wolf. To really understand the dog's evolutionary history you need to go back even further in time to the early Cenozoic or late Cretaceous. This, then, is the subject of Xiaoming Wang's incredible book "Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History". Wang is a noted paleontologist and geologist who just happens to be gifted writer. There's a lot of information packed into this book some of that information is, out of necessity, quite technical but all of it, technical or not, is layman friendly and very readable. The early evolution of the dog family is a fascinating story paralleling that of the cat and hyena and probably a few other carnivores as well. The author makes it all clear and covers, not only the dog, but a host of other creatures that shared this primeval world with the Canidae group. You can't really study an animal with out learning about it's environment as well. To this end Wang fills you in on the geological and climatic changes that took place during those time periods. You will also get glimpse of the dog's hunting technics and social activities, using fossils and modern Canids as models. Migratory patterns, again using fossil locations, tell us how these versatile carnivores spread over the globe and changed to fit each new environment. This, at last, brings us back to the modern dog who has shared our homes and camp fires for many thousands of years. If you're at all interested in carnivore evolution and have some experience in reading science texts you may enjoy this book as much as I did. I had no downloading or technical problems with this Kindle edition. A few words about the art work: Mauricio Anton's many line drawings and superb color plates round out this wonderful book and brings life to the extinct animals mentioned throughout the narrative. The color plates come across as black & white on my Kindle but spring into glorious full color HD life on my iPad. Look for the plates at the very end of the book, after the index.
* for more insights on animal domestication in general see "The Intimate Bond" by Brian Fagan.
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