Abstract The domestication of the cat ( Felis catus ) is traditionally viewed as a singular event originating in the Near East, where the African wildcat ( Felis silvestris lybica ) entered a commensal relationship with early agriculturalists. However, recent zooarchaeological, isotopic, and genomic evidence from China challenges this monophyletic narrative. For over three millennia, from the Neolithic Yangshao culture to the Han Dynasty, the primary felid associate of Chines

Abstract The evolutionary trajectory of the domestic dog ( Canis lupus familiaris ) has long been a subject of intense scientific scrutiny, often framed within a simplified cladistic model of a singular, ancient divergence from a gray wolf ancestor. However, the advent of high-throughput whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and advanced computational analyses of Identity-by-Descent (IBD) haplotypes has precipitated a paradigm shift. Emerging research, including seminal studies highl

1. Introduction: The Cultural Paradigm in Evolutionary Primatology The intellectual history of ethology and evolutionary anthropology has been characterized by a persistent erosion of the barrier between human and non-human cognition. For much of the 20th century, the capacity for "culture"—defined broadly as the transmission of information, behaviors, and technologies across generations through social learning rather than genetic inheritance—was considered the singular, defi

1. Introduction: The Urban Crucible and the Anthropocene Phenotype The burgeoning field of urban evolutionary ecology posits that cities are not merely localized disruptions to natural ecosystems, but rather distinct, globally replicated biomes that exert potent, novel selective pressures on resident biota. This "urban crucible" accelerates evolutionary change, compressing into decades processes that might otherwise unfold over millennia. Within this context, the North Americ