BRUSSELS - Man and Dog already live together 31,700 years, which is 17,700 longer than previously thought. New research on a canine skull, already found in 1850 in the caves of Goyet near Namur (Wallonia), has shown conclusively that it did not belong to a wolf but to a dog! Palaeontologist Mietje Germonpré of the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (Brussels) stated that the dog's size was more or less like a modern shep but it's form similar to that of a Siberian husky. Their teeth still had some wolvish characteristics though, which explains the mistake made in 1850.
"It is possible that dogs were used for hunting and carrrying game and objects or persons," she said. "They were also useful for their fur and meat, as pets and as animals with a ritual significance".