All Dogs, Explained

[00:03] this. And all of these good boys and girls are too. Wild canines are wildly continent. And ever since the wild ancestors of dogs first cozied up to the fires of ancient hunter gatherers somewhere between 15 and 30,000 years

[00:17] ago, domestic dogs have reaped the benefits of one of the most successful history of the planet. An estimated 1 billion modern dogs live all over the world, including several who live with the people that made this video. Hi, I'm

[00:30] David. This is Kubu. And this is Minute Earth. And in this video, I'm going to take you on a tour of the dogormous diversity of the K9 family. Oh yeah, wall. You can order it from our merch shop on dftba.com. I'll talk more about

[00:45] let's start with a few extinct canines first. This is Epicion, the largest dog that ever existed. It was roughly the size of a grizzly bear. And this is the dire wolf, one of the apex predators of the ancient American West. If you go to

[01:00] the labrea tarpits in California, you'll see hundreds of direwolf skulls that seems these puffers just couldn't resist going after giant mammals that had And then the dire wolves got stuck, too. And the last extinct canine we'll

[01:14] discuss is Leptoion, the literal dog father. This little omnivore burst onto the scene more than 30 million years ago in North America. and eventually gave rise to every canine alive today. Now, we're going to pivot to those canines

[01:27] the ones that are least closely related to domestic dogs and get closer and love as we go. This means the first modern group of canines will be touring is the foxes. As scientists have learned more about how canines are related,

[01:40] that we call foxes aren't actually that closely related to one another. For example, there are two foxes that are relatively separate from all the other pups in the canine family. The ancestors of gray foxes split off from the rest of

[01:52] ancient canines before any other species did. Modern gray foxes have long claws allowing them to escape from the coyotes and wolves that live nearby. The island fox is very closely related to the gray fox. A few thousand years ago, a few

[02:06] islands off of the coast of California. Over the ensuing millennia, their descendants shrank about 25% due to the limited food on the islands and became a new species, the island fox. A prime example of the phenomenon of island

[02:19] dwarfism. Okay, let's get into the rest of the fox group. The red fox is perhaps the most widely distributed canine in the world. It scampers around a huge range that includes North America, Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, and the

[02:32] range, their coats appear black or silver. Beginning in 1952, a Soviet some of those silver red foxes to see if he could eventually produce tame how humans had first domesticated wolves. It took a while, but more than

[02:48] 40 generations later, his team has created a small population of tame silver foxes with floppy ears and curly tails who love to snuggle with humans. As winter fades in the far north, the Arctic fox sheds the fluffy white coat

[03:01] and grows in a thinner coat packed with more melanin, which it then uses to blend in with the summer landscape. The fenic fox is a desert dweller, and pretty much every part of its tiny body is optimized for life there. Of course,

[03:14] which dissipate heat and help it listen for prey hiding under the North African sand. It's also got shovel-shaped front feet to help it dig quickly to get into though it looks like a Pokemonified version of, well, a raccoon, is probably

[03:28] pretty closely related to those foxes. It's also the only canine that that's that group. Now, let's head over to another branch of the canine family might be a little less familiar with. Let's start with the crab eatating fox,

[03:42] which again is not really in the fox group. Crab eating foxes stalk mud named after to wander out into the open. Next, let's meet the bush dog, a squat in the marshes of the Amazon rainforest. Bush dogs can actually take down big

[03:57] prey like capibaras by hunting in packs and nipping their quarry's heels until there's the maed wolf, which looks like a red fox with cartoonishly long legs. what's going on in the South American grasslands. Finally, there's the

[04:11] short-eared dog. These elusive South American natives are one of the few from their anal glands. They often live in the abandoned burrows of giant armadillos. Okay, let's turn to the group of canines that are more closely

[04:23] related to modern dogs. The blackbacked jackal is famous for its broad diet. It will eat pretty much everything from grasshoppers to seals to impalas to the hard melons of the nar tree. The African wild dog uh I mean the painted dog has

[04:37] conservation groups attempt to prevent its impending extinction by making it sound well less wild. The endangered doss of southern Asia might be the most famous example of a phenomenon called reticulate evolution. That is they might

[04:51] hybridization between wolves and painted dogs. And here's the infamous coyote. across North America has been bad for most species, it's been a boon for coyotes whose flexible diet, willingness to live near humans, and ability to

[05:06] allowed them to tremendously expand their range and numbers. And of course, there's the grey wolf. Grey wolves are the ultimate pack hunters. Their what led them to the huts of ancient humans, which eventually led to their

[05:20] domestication as the canines we love today, modern dogs. One of the first dogs we know was the Bon Obercastle dog from about 14,000 years ago. She survived a terrible disease as a puppy and likely wasn't any use as a hunting

[05:32] just kept her as a pet for snuggles. those earliest domesticated dogs. It seems as though a group of them traveled by boat from Asia to Australia several thousand years ago. Once they got down

[05:44] literally, and have since become the apex predator of the outback. Since humans have been selectively breeding dogs for all sorts of traits, resulting can't cover them all here, but let's talk about some that really stand out.

[06:00] Benis are short-haired African hunting dogs that are famous for the fact that vocalizations sometimes sound like yodals. Zolos are sometimes called Mexican hairless dogs thanks to their origin and appearance. There's evidence

[06:13] their owners since they were thought to be reliable guides to the underworld. Mastiffs often weigh more than 100 kg and have been used as guard dogs, hunting dogs, and even military dogs. Nowadays, they're more known for their

[06:26] drool than their ferociousness. Huskys and malamutes are often used as sled they are able to use their energy reserves, they can run ultramarathons for days at a time, making them the best endurance athletes on the planet.

[06:39] distinctive curly coats, were often used as performers in old tiny circuses. black, or chocolate colored, were originally bred in Canada to be game their friendly temperament and smarts, labs are now super popular pets. And

[06:55] labs and were bred to do many of the same jobs, they first came from Scotland. Perhaps the most famous golden retriever is Buddy, the star of the Airbud cinematic universe. The German Shepherd is super popular and learns

[07:08] their work as police dogs and search and rescue dogs. Belgian shepherds, as the Malininoa, are extremely athletic and trainable. Whippbits were the known for their speed and nervous energy. Occasionally, a genetic mutation

[07:23] that only occurs in this breed, creates super muscular dogs known as bully whippbits. Dachshunds, also known as wiener dogs, were bred to be able to fit into burrows and flush out badgers. In fact, the German word for badger is

[07:35] docks. Nowadays, though, dachshunds are mostly just cute, long pets. A greyhound can hit speeds of more than 75 km/h. They have the highest percentage of fast switch muscles of any breed. The smallest of all dog breeds, Chihuahua

[07:48] where they originated. The smallest Chihuahua ever, Pearl, is only 5 in long and weighs just over a pound. To me, French bulldogs look kind of like They are now the most popular dog breed in America, having knocked Labs out of

[08:03] the top spot in 2022. Akitas are known for their loyalty. Even after his owner died, Hachiko the Aikita waited at the train station every day for 9 years for him to return home from work. In the process, he became a national hero as

[08:16] the ultimate symbol of faithfulness. Great Danes are the tallest dogs in the world. Standing on his hind legs, the Great Dane Zeus was taller than Shaq. He could drink directly from the kitchen sink. St. Bernards are famous mountain

[08:28] rescue dogs. Barry the St. Bernard is credited with saving more than 40 people in his work for a Swiss monastery. He'd sniff out people trapped in avalanches, on them to warm them up. Of course,

[08:40] that aren't considered purebred at all. Some are like labradoodles, hybrid lab as pets for folks with allergies to pet dander, but now are just the cute non-shedding pet of choice for all sorts of folks. And then there's the pitbull,

[08:54] bunch of different short-haired muscly dog breeds with square heads. Because of fights and often unfair reputation as being aggressive, pitbulls are often in animal shelters in order to make them more adoptable. And finally, there are

[09:09] muts, which are basically combos of all sorts of breeds, like Kate's dog, Watson. Perhaps the most famous MUT is Leica, who started life as a stray Soviet street dog before being selected by scientists to be part of the Sputnik

[09:21] program. She was the first animal to orbit the Earth, though she died before she could get back home. That's a lot of dogs. Thanks for joining us on this tour of the incredible diversity of the K9 family. If you liked

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