Dogs were once weasels?

All dogs can be traced back 40 million years ago to a weasel-like animal called the Miacis which dwelled in trees and dens. The Miacis later evolved into the Tomarctus, a direct forbear of the genus Canis, which includes the wolf and jackal as well as the dog

 

That's pretty interesting! I did a search to see what a Tomarctus looked like. They were known to North America. It's very much like a dog though seems to have a bit of a fox in it:
http://designeranimals.wikispaces.c...pg/153568031/dog-evolve-Tomarctus_labeled.jpg

The Miacis that you mentioned does look more like a weasel. It has the small head, sleek body, and long tail. It is interesting to think that dogs evolved from this, though when you think of coyotes, they do have a little of that slinky body look.
http://www.catheadshop.com/images/miacis.gif

 

That's fascinating! I can see the resembelence between modern day dogs and the Tomarctus! The weasel connection is still suprising though, who would've thought!

 

Fascinating! I wasn't aware. It sparked my interest and I also did alittle research on my own. Tomarctus are cute looking. I can see the evolution, primitive digs did appear to be long and slender. I would have never thought weasels. Who would have thought that my daughters ferrets and my dogs could be long lost cousins.

 

Weasels? In that case, Dachshunds could be one of the weasel genes turning up in the dog. The Dachshund does look somewhat like the weasel in its body shape, doesn't it?

 

This is an interesting thing to know. I knew that dogs were linked to wolves that's why they have pack behavior traits. But I had no idea they were also linked to species of weasels.

 

Just remember that the miacidae were the first mammalian carnivores to evolve. This means that they are the ancestors of all modern carnivores, not just dogs. This includes the bears, cats, seals, hyenas, weasels and civets. The first split was between the cats, civets and hyenas and all the other carnivores. The next split was between the dogs, and all the rest (bears, weasels, seals, racoons and skunks).

 

Very interesting! I always heard that dogs evolved from wolves. The tomarctus actually looks a lot like a dog.

 

Lately I am beginning to suspect that the dog could very well have been descended from the fox. Or at least have a common ancestor with the modern fox.

This suspicion comes from the news reports which I have been reading every few days about foxes which are coming into urban areas, foraging for food in the trash cans with little fear of humans. This sounds more like how the ancestor of the dog could have become domesticated.

The generally accepted theory was that the ancestor of the modern dog first became acquainted with humans by staying on the fringes of human settlements and living on the food scraps thrown to them by the humans. This behavior is now being exhibited by foxes. There has been hardly any news of wolves which behaved like this.

 

Lots of interesting information on this thread.
Nice to read and learn all of these since I am not that aware of the origin or evolution of our favorite buddies.

 

Wow, I had no idea about this, it's a very interesting thread. The link with the picture of Miacis doesn't work for me so I'm posting another one:


He does look a little bit like my Homer, lol