Ancient Inuit Brought Sled Dogs From Siberia That Helped Them Survive, Study Shows

Dogs were already in North America when Inuit communities arrived, but the dogs the Inuit brought with them had unique abilities that helped the people survive in a new environment.

By Katharine Gammon
Dec 2, 2019 2:00 PMJul 11, 2023 1:43 PM
sled dog arctic
When the Inuit came to North America, their dogs came with them. Those dogs’ descendants are still in the Arctic today. (Credit: Markus Trienke via Flickr)

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(Inside Science) -- Huskies, malamutes and Greenland sled dogs are fluffy, hard-charging workers. They also share a lineage that can be traced back about 2,000 years. That's when Inuit people began moving from Siberia to the Arctic. Even though dogs were already in North America, the Inuit brought dogs with unique abilities -- and that helped the people survive in a new place. That’s the conclusion of a new paper, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society Biology.

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