Observe the behavior of dogs alongside their closes relatives, the wolf. Many of us have heard that dogs descended from wolves, but what does this mean and how exactly did it happen?

Share what you understand about the evolution of physical traits and speciation and apply these ideas to a range of cases and contexts, including bacteria, birds, and various urban populations of wildlife.

Use your understanding of the evolution of physical traits to help explain the origins of a range of behaviors across the animal kingdom, including those that make dogs similar to and different from wolves.

Consider the diversity of human behaviors, personalities, and neurotypes, and how this diversity is important for populations and crucial for a species survival, adaptation, and evolutionary success.

Long before they sat beside our fires, dogs were wolves—watching, waiting, learning. Some kept their distance, fierce and untamed. Others lingered near the edges of human camps, drawn by scraps and the safety of company. Over generations, those with gentler temperaments, quicker curiosity, or sharper attunement to human moods found a new path. Through the quiet arithmetic of natural selection, the wolf’s wild edge softened into the dog’s companionship.

This same process shapes the behaviors of all animals. A bird’s alarm call may protect its kin; a fox’s patience may secure its meal; a school of fish may turn as one to confuse a predator. Tiny differences—how bold, how cautious, how cooperative, how solitary—can mean the difference between thriving and fading away. Over countless lifetimes, these tendencies are tested, kept, or set aside.

The world’s strength lies in this diversity. Within a species, a mix of personalities and “neurotypes” gives a group the tools to face shifting challenges—some racing toward change, others holding the line. Across species, it’s the same: no single way of thinking or moving through the world is enough for every moment. Evolution is not a straight march toward perfection, but a weaving together of many strategies, each with its moment to shine.