Neolithic farmers helped African wolves have a population boom 5,000 years ago
Humans were not the only species that experienced a population boom after the development of farming—so did the recently described African wolf (Canis aureus lupaster).
According to a study published in Biology Letters, the predators benefited from the influx of goats, sheep and other livestock introduced during the expansion in North Africa.
“Today, we are very much elucidated about the negative impacts of humans on past biodiversity through persecution, habitat fragmentation [and] forest clearance, among others,” co-author Raquel Godinho, a principal researcher at the University of Porto in Portugal, told Newsweek.
