Unique sled dogs helped the inuit thrive in the North American Arctic

[Judi Lynn]

27-NOV-2019

UC Davis anthropologists and geneticists traced dog's DNA back 2,000 years

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

Inuit sled dogs have changed little since people migrated to the North American Arctic across the Bering Strait from Siberia with them, according to researchers who have examined DNA from the dogs from that time span. The legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in Arctic sled dogs, making them one of the last remaining descendant populations of indigenous, pre-European dog lineages in the Americas.

The latest research is the result of nearly a decade's work by University of California, Davis, researchers in anthropology and veterinary genetics, who analyzed the DNA of hundreds of dogs' ancient skeletal remains to determine that the Inuit dog had significantly different DNA than other Arctic dogs, including malamutes and huskies.

The article, "Specialized sledge dogs accompanied the Inuit dispersal across the North American Arctic," was published Wednesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. From UC Davis, authors include Christyann Darwent, professor of anthropology; Ben Sacks, adjunct professor and director of the Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine; and Sarah Brown, a postdoctoral researcher. Lead author Carly Ameen is an archaeologist from the University of Exeter; Tatiana Feuerborn is with the Globe Institute in Denmark and Centre for Palaeogenetics in Sweden; and Allowen Evin is at the CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution in Montpellier, France. The list of authors includes many others from a large number of collaborating institutions.

Qimmiit (dogs in Inuktitut) were viewed by the Inuit as particularly well-suited to long-distance hauling of people and their goods across the Arctic and consuming local resources, such as sea mammals, for food.

More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/uoc--usd112619.php

[Karadeniz]

1. Why did Canada cull the sled dogs. Jeez! Are there any left?

[Boomer]

2. "Culling" is a euphemism for slaughter

I went searching for images of the Inuit sled dog and found a lot more than I bargained for in the articles attached to the images.

The RCMP and Quebec's Provincial Police Nearly Killed Off the Inuit Sled Dog
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/zn8wy8/the-rcmp-and-quebecs-provincial-police-nearly-killed-off-the-inuit-sled-dog

Between 1950 and 1970, police used a loophole in an agricultural law to slaughter thousands of dogs, in what many say was an attempt to move the Inuit off the land and into stationary "civilization."

[Judi Lynn]

3. Sadistic, barbaric monsters. Thank you so much for providing the information.

I can see why they didn't want anyone to know what they did, it was filthy evil.

Thank god the truth is starting to surface so some who care will find out, all these long years since that 20+ year span.
This information is never going to leave my memory. Absolutely unforgivable.

Thanks, again, for the illumination.

Another DU'er mentioned not long ago that Canada has been brutal in its behavior toward indigenous people. This is a gigantic example, and what they did to the innocent furry friends of people was unspeakable, too.

It's time more people started dragging these idiots' skeletons out of the closet, then nailing the doors shut so they can't hide them again.