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It is the epic
story of one of the most amazing evolutionary journeys ever
taken by a species. Thousands of years ago, as humans began to
settle in villages, the wolf emerged from the wild and made
the startling leap to “man’s best friend.”
Once domesticated, dogs would
accompany human
cultures down through the centuries and to the far corners of
the world. Much more recently, the Victorian Age transformed
them into the most varied species, and one of the most common
pets, on the planet. And at the dawn of the 21st century, dogs
are once more changing our world by their use in cutting-edge
scientific research and lifesaving medical care.
Academy Award-winning
actor F. Murray Abraham narrates NATURE’s “Dogs That Changed
the World,” available in high definition. Part one, “The Rise
of the Dog,” encores Sunday, January 13, 2008, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
ET; part two, “Dogs by Design,” re-airs Sunday, January 20,
2008, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on PBS.
“These programs are an
ambitious, comprehensive natural history of the relationship
between dogs and humans,” notes Fred Kaufman, executive
producer of NATURE. “We start with the long-ago
dramatic morphing of wolf to dog and arrive at dogs’
competitive breeding and use in medical research today. In
between, we travel to the Papua New Guinea jungle, the frozen
Arctic, the Mideast desert, rugged British countryside and
ancient Mexican ruins to show dogs’ varied working roles in
different cultures over the ages.”
 “The
Rise of the Dog”
explores those roles — the dog as guard, hunter, herder,
hauler and spiritual protector — as well as current theories
about the wolf’s evolutionary leap. In spectacular location
footage, NATURE shows how indispensable certain breeds
have been to their people. These include the Arctic’s native
Inuit and their sled dogs; desert dwelling Jordanians and the
speedy saluki; British shepherds and the border collie;
Mexicans (and their Aztec ancestors) and the hairless xolo;
and aborigines of Papua New Guinea and the singing dog. The
dramatically diverse breeds serve distinct needs, but all are
linked by Swedish geneticist Peter Savolainen’s pioneering
“Adam and Eve” theory. His analysis of DNA from breeds around
the world points to a single origin in East Asia thousands of
years ago.
“Dogs by Design”
details a much more recent
phenomenon: the explosion of the basic working dog types into
the roughly 400 breeds known today. In mid-19th-century
England, a growing middle class saw in Queen Victoria’s exotic
Pekinese a symbol of wealth, status and leisure. Pet keeping
as we know it arose, and the modern kennel club was born. The
program explores concerns about today’s competitive breeding
and its effect on dogs’ health and well-being, using
sophisticated computer-generated graphics to show how it has
dramatically altered the bulldog and other breeds. Along the
way,
 “Dogs
by Design” notes the original uses of such popular pets as
terriers, bulldogs and others.
“Dogs by Design”
also features evolutionary
biologist Susan Crockford, who explains her revolutionary
theory that links thyroxine, a hormone that controls dogs’
growth rate, to the differentiation of breeds. Finally, the
program visits scientists who are experimenting to see if
dogs, with their acute sense of smell, can help sniff out
cancer in humans and an ordinary family that has tapped a
German shepherd to provide life-saving diabetes care.
Now in its 26th season,
NATURE has won more than 400 honors from the television
industry, parent groups, the international wildlife film
community, and environmental organizations, including 10
Emmys, two Peabodys and the first award given to a television
program by the Sierra Club. This year, the series won Emmy
Awards for “Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History” and “Christmas
in Yellowstone.”
All materials courtesy of
Nature:
PBS
Photo credit for all dog photos: Tim Cuff ©EBC |
