Doggie DNA study says Fido likely first appeared in Central Asia
BERKASOVO, Serbia — Thousands of people trying to reach the heart of Europe surged across Serbia’s border into Croatia on Monday after authorities eased restrictions that had left them stranded for days in ankle-deep mud and rain.
The migrants left behind a field scattered with soaked blankets, mudcaked clothing and water-logged tents as they headed for Slovenia, the next obstacle to their quest to reach richer European Union nations via the Balkans.
Monday’s surprise move allowed an estimated 3,000 more migrants to enter Croatia bound for its small Alpine neighbor, which also has been struggling to slow the flow of humanity — and faced another wave of trekkers seeking to reach Austria and Germany to the north.
“Without any announcement, the borders opened. When the borders opened, everybody rushed,” said Melita Sunjic, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, who was stationed at the SerbCroat border.
Many discarded their mud-soaked socks and walked only in sandals or slippers through the ankle-deep muck in a driving rain, frigid winds and fog. Some who had lost limbs during the civil war in Syria were aided by friends pushing their wheelchairs down a country lane that, since Saturday, had been blocked by Croat police.
Croatia’s prime minister, Zoran Milanovic, said his country had hoped to minimize the flow of people following Hungary’s decision to seal its border with Croatia, but conditions on the poorly sheltered Serb side of the border had quickly grown unbearable.
“It’s apparent that this is no solution, so we will let them through. We will send them toward Slovenia,” Milanovic said.
Officials on the Croat side planned to bus the newcomers either to a Croat refugee camp or to the Slovenian border.
Slovenia’s Interior Ministry said some 5,000 people had reached its borders Monday, and most were allowed to enter, with at least 900 reaching Austria by the evening. Slovenia had vowed to let in no more than 2,500 migrants per day.
Slovenian President Borut Pahor insisted his country would accept only as many travelers as could be funneled directly on to Austria. He said Slovenia was determined not to be left holding the bag should Austria or Germany suddenly stop accepting refugee applicants.
NEW YORK — Where did dogs first arrive on the scene? Scientists have long debated that question, and now a study of doggie DNA from around the world is pointing to Central Asia.
Man’s best friend may have evolved somewhere near what is now Nepal and Mongolia, researchers say.
Previous studies have suggested southern China, the Middle East, Siberia and Europe as the place where our first domesticated animal arose from wolves at least 15,000 years ago.
For the new work, Adam Boyko of Cornell University and others analyzed DNA from 549 dogs that represented 38 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East and islands north and east of Australia. The animals weren’t house pets, but rather “village dogs” that wandered in the streets or fields.
The researchers examined the DNA for signals of where the dogs had the most ancient roots. That pointed to Central Asia. The analysis did not tackle the contentious question of when dogs appeared.
Results were reported in a paper released Monday by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Even Boyko doesn’t think the work will end the debate among scientists.
“I’m not pretending my study alone is enough to rally the community together,” he said.
He’s right. Robert Wayne of the University of California, Los Angeles, who proposed a European origin for dogs in 2013 based on analysis of ancient DNA, said he didn’t buy the conclusion about Central Asia. In an email, he questioned Boyko’s use of modern-day genetic material as a guide to the distant past.