Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. From their wolf ancestors to today’s sweet, loyal ...

Who said it first, no one knows. But Frederick the Great, warrior ruler and enlightened despot of 18th-century Prussia, said it well. “The only, absolute and best friend a man has, in this selfish ...

Learn how DNA from 14,200-year-old dogs shows they lived in Europe before farming and traces their ancestry to eastern wolves. Early humans in Europe weren’t the only ones moving across the landscape.

The more I consider the continuing debate over the “time” and “place” for the transformation of wolf into dog, the more I become convinced that the puzzle remains unsolved because of human devotion to ...