Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 26,000-Year-Old Child Footprints Found Alongside Canine Paw Prints.....

this, best post yet.

I have seen it in a few good horses. The best Cavalry boys would die for their horse, with good cause. I have known several horses which would babysit little kids better than any dog ever could.

I'd challenge that.

Wish I had video of our old chessie Rio...

Yes, there are quite a number of examples of that. One that springs to mind is the killer whales of Eden, New South Wales. For over 100 years there was a pod of killer whales which would co-operate with the local whalers to round up humpbacks and other baleen whales. The killer whales would even come in close to shore and thrash around as a signal to say "there's some out here for you", and then lead the whalers out in their rowboats to get them. In return the whalers would kill the baleen whales and then leave them out for the orcas to eat the tongues before towing the carcases to shore for harvesting the blubber.

Then there is the African Honey Guide bird. It locates bee nests. When it seems humans walking through the bush, it approaches and jabbers at them until they follow it to the nest. After the humans gather up the honey, they leave a batch on a log for the bird.

It would not be a stretch to envision humans keeping captive Honey Guides and letting them out whenever they wanted to find some honey.

The blacks in Africa say if you don't leave honey for the bird he will lead a mamba to you bed.

You are making an assumption that wild dingoes are the same dogs that aborigines kept around their camps. The most important part of any dog is the grey matter that lies inside it's skull. A modern example would be the Australian Shepherd, which is now differentiated into two defined types; the working type and the show type. The working type is the original Aussie (actually originating in the Basque Region of Spain), selected for ability as a working herding dog. The show type is a classic example of the hefty middle-aged ladies and Gay men in the AKC ruining a dog by inbreeding them for appearance. They are all "Aussies", just half of 'em are useless.

Another example is the Icelandic Sheepdog; resembles a husky but has working sheepdog brain, acts more like a border collie that a husky, despite outward appearances.

The advice about wild dingoes to to adopt them before six weeks of age and then socialize them "aggressively", do all that and you'll get a PITA dog that has no desire at all to please you by following your commands. One thing of note about dingoes is they can go an extraordinary amount of time without water as compared to a regular dog. Heeler owners proudly point to the infusion of dingo genes into their dog's lineage as making them tougher, there may be truth to this.

Another thing to consider is that, to the best of our knowledge, Aborigines did not use their dogs as hunting companions, at least not the men. There is a paper out that suggests they did assist the women in catching small game while the women were out doing the gathering part of the hunter/gatherer equation. They also famously used them as electric blankets on cold nights and presumably, along with many other contemporary Nations, employed them as the functional equivalent of the hog in the Old World; a converter of waste food into edible meat.

Ron and Indy,

I do believe there are some folks without IQs. Measurable ones at least. Some may even post here at times.

Geno

Many caves have water in them, sometimes flowing, sometimes just dripping. In the Shoshone Ice Cave north of here, it drips in and freezes, year round.

Co-evolved?

So that evolution stuff is real?

In only 4000-6000 years?



Geno

Look at photos of a wolf, coyote or fox about to pounce on rodent prey, an intent posture not unlike a bird dog on point. I have never heard of a wolf freezing in that position while another pack member gets into position, certainly sounds like something they would do though. Likewise all members of a wolfpack will bring food back to the pups. So is your lab regarding you as a puppy in the field? Hard to say, but what is happening is that a small part of the complete repertoire of wolf behavior has been selectively bred into a compulsion on the part of a certain dog breed.

'Nother example; when I was a teenager in the '70's Old English Sheepdogs were in vogue thanks to some Disney movies. In short order American dog breeders were turning out 70lb non-functional mounds of hair with bad hips.

We had a well-to-do family friend who went right to the source and actually imported one from England. Turns out that dog had a working sheepdog's brain (actual sheep-herding Old English Sheepdogs - who knew?). She gave us Mozart when he was two. One of the two really great dogs I've owned in life. In contrast to the AKC products, Mozart weighed just fifty pounds and was fast and agile. Would chase stuff if commanded, just wouldn't kill it.

We lived in an old house with a porch closed off by a second door, we kept free range chickens and kept a bag of chicken feed in that porch. One day there was a large rat hiding behind that bag. I closed myself and the dog inside the porch, as maybe 6 foot x 5 foot box, pulled the bag away and chaos broke out. The squirrel-sized rat was bouncing off the walls and off of my legs trying to get away. Mozart was highly excited, his nose right on the rat the whole time. Wouldn't bite it.

In England, sheepdogs are bred with a bite-inhibition, that being regarded as a serious fault when herding sheep. Mozart was never taught this, that wasn't necessary, anymore than a good lab has to be taught to go get that thrown object. In the same way my present dog is a Blue Heeler, another herding breed. My Heeler is ALL about going in teethfirst Does it naturally (or would if I let her). Again a small part of the total range of wolf behaviors selectively bred into a near obsession on the part of a dog breed.

lets not get to complicated here.

one day a guy was taking a piss and a wolf/dog came over and sniff it, the guy threw him a bone and they were friends ever after.... pretty simple and as good a explanation as any.

Works for me.............


as long as it didn't happen more than 6000 years ago


Geno

i get a kick out of man trying to explain creation or anything before written history..... only man is arrogant enough to think they could know. only god knows.

I simply said Dingo without any distinction between wild or domesticated, and did so for a reason.

Aborigines never really domesticated the native dingo like we have done so with dogs. The dingoes nature wouldnt buy it.
But they did develop a relationship that benefited humans to sufficient degree [pros vs cons] that the dingo
was considered worth having in the community.

According to AuGeo, dingo proved among other things
- An effective hunting aid and effective guard role
especially for the women and chidren, which then
resulted in benefits for the whole community.

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/08/cultural-history-of-the-dingo/

You my friend might have an IQ.

Geno

What constitutes "really domesticated"? Dogs that live in your camp, breed in your camp, follow you around, accompany your women and children, eat at your fire and get used as actual living blankets by you, your women and kids when everybody sleeps at night aren't "really domesticated" because "their nature won't allow it"?

Perhaps you ain't been around dogs much. I'll say it again; the most important part of a dog is the grey stuff between it's ears. Two similar-looking dogs can be night and day.

Maybe you should bother to read the AG source link
I provided above:

Quote]...
"the pups generally returned to the wild once mature (at one or two years of age) to breed. As such, dingoes maintained the dual roles of human companion and top-order predator –"



Whats your experience with dingo?




Whether dingoes were really domesticated in the sense like most regular dogs are, remains debatable.

Hence why earlier I was careful not to distinguish
between wild and domesticated.... Simply refering
to dingo as having a 'relationship' with natives.

non of that means chit

RC, the point is, how could the cave be wet enough for tracks to form in the wet clay, but remain dry enough to preserve those tracks for 26 millenia?