What dog is considered the stone age dog?

The New Guinea Singing Dog comes from the remote highlands of New Guinea and is the rarest dog in the world. Because of their remote location, they have been separated from domestic dogs for at least 30,000 years landing them their special nickname, the stone age dog. Their breed is also believed to be older than the dingo. Thus, they are one of the oldest canines in the world.

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74 Comments

Jim Hill

bull !!! what about the recent fossils found of the oldest dog. it is said to be alot older than 30'000 years and dna is wolf related.

Richard Taylor

It is a wolf...

chancecolley

Isabella Bashir , Jim Hill is correct. Dog breeds are so genetically distinct that 99% of individual dogs could be correctly assigned to their breed based on their genotype, indicating that breeding barriers (pure-bred breeding) has led to distinct genetic units. The study identified 9 breeds, referred to as "ancient breeds", that could be represented on the branches of a phylogenetic tree which grouped together with strong statistical support and could be separated from the other breeds with a modern European origin. Out of the 9 breeds there are three well-supported groups that were highly divergent and distinct from modern domestic dogs. The three groups were Asian, Middle Eastern & Northern. The New Guinea Singing Dog is part of the Asian group and all three groups are descendant from the Wolf.

Gerald Mason

I agree with Jim Hill WOLF

Richard D. Boyle

The consensus of scientific opinion is that all current dog breeds are descended from Stone Age wolves.

Debra Jenkins

Why doesn't it explain why it is called a Singing Dog?

Denise Currie

I got this wrong by putting wolf, so I checked a couple of different sites after and found out it was the wolf, so wrong answer yet again

nrudlandwood

These dogs originate from wolves

John McLardie

So much wrong with this question. Not enough is known about this dog beyond its close relationship to the dingo (and the basenji) through its mtDNA. It does appear to be descended from an extinct species of wolf; although this is argued. For those who state that wolves are dogs - they are not! Modern domesticated dogs are descended from gray wolves. Recent discoveries, in Germany, of a 'Paleolithic' dog, dating to about 40-35000 years BP, indicate that such a dog descended again from an extinct species of wolf. The skull had 'dog' morphology but 'wolf' teeth. Most recent discoveries of 'dogs' labelled 'Paleoloithic' appear to show that these animals were NOT descended from gray wolves: as the domestic dog is. Studies of maternal and paternal DNA suggest that the modern domestic dog became genetically distinct from gray wolves between 151000 - 68000 years BP.