Hunting for the First Dog: teacher key

Dogs, grade 8 edition, written for 8th grade. Nobody can say exactly how a wolf became a dog. Read the competing ideas, the clues in an old grave and an odd experiment with foxes.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does the scavenger hypothesis say?
   • Dogs came from foxes
   • Wolves less afraid of people ate scraps near villages and became dogs (answer)
   • Dogs were made by farmers
2. What did Trut do with the calmest foxes?
   • Sold them
   • Set them free
   • Bred them to make the next generation (answer)
3. What rose when a dog gazed at its owner in the 2015 study?
   • The owner's oxytocin level (answer)
   • The dog's weight
   • The room's heat
4. What did the Duke study find about wolf puppies pointing at hidden food?
   • They did better than dogs
   • They never moved
   • They did no better than chance (answer)
5. Why does the sick puppy grave suggest care?
   • The grave was large
   • The puppy probably could only have survived with long and intensive human care (answer)
   • Puppies are rare
6. What does it mean that there are as many scenarios as people working on dog origins?
   • The question is still open (answer)
   • The answer is settled
   • No one studies it

Words

• hypothesis: a testable idea
• scavenger: eats leftovers
• oxytocin: bonding chemical
• turbinates: scroll-like bones
• brachycephalic: short-skulled