Search

Nineteen species of wild canids interact with humans in the Americas in different ways. The zooarchaeological record of burials, shifts in diet, abundance at sites, and ethnological information document the various kinds of interactions of canids and humans in the Americas. However, none of these native canid species has been domesticated. To understand past and present interactions of canids and humans, and explore the biological attributes of native canids (diet, gestation length, occurrence in captivity, temperament, social system, weight, activity pattern, and relative abundance) in view of their suggested potential for domestication, we selected 163 publications from the zooarchaeological record and ethnological sources from the Americas. The compilation ranged between the years 1823 and 2021. The two species with the highest domestication potential based on their life history, social system, and diet are Canis latrans and Speothos venaticus. For the domestication of a canid species to occur, it is necessary to have the biological attributes to facilitate the process, and for the (human) potential domesticator the worldview consistent with this practice. The latter likely explains the lack of domesticated canids in the Amazon region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fossil record of carnivorous mammals in Uruguay is scarce and fragmentary, but informative. In the present contribution, two new records of canids allocated in sediments of the Dolores Formation (late Pleistocene-early Holocene) are described. These records, based on their anatomical-comparative study and multivariate analysis, correspond to two foxes: one of medium size, Cerdocyon thous, conforms to the first record of this taxon in the country, meanwhile the other one, of larger size, is referred to Dusicyon avus and is the first fossil record of this animal in the south of the territory and the second record in the whole country. Until now, the only carnivorous mammals registered in this formation were the hunters of large herbivores (Arctotherium sp. and Smilodon populator). In this way, these discoveries complement and expand the set of placental mammals with a carnivorous diet for this unit, particularly with the capacity to predate over small- and medium-size mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]