The final meeting summarizing our project “How far apart are the dog and the wolf?” performed in the University of the Young Explorers programme

            On Thursday, June 8th, in our Institute, we held the meeting presenting the results of the project “How far are the dog and the wolf? Biological aspects of species domestication” performed in February-June this year. The project was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as part of the programme called University of the Young Explorers.

            We hosted all participants of the project: over 80 pupils and their biology teachers from eight junior high schools from Hajnówka, Narewka, Dubiny and Białowieża, as well as the invited Heads of the schools. Scientists and PhD students of MRI PAS presented the results of a nearly half-a-year cooperative work by researchers, pupils and teachers. Among 76 studied dogs, some were similar to wolves in their appearance, while others – in behaviour, some of them originated from very old lineages of domesticated animals, while others showed newer history of domestication in their mitochondrial DNA profiles. Nonetheless, all studied doggies evidenced that evolution in human company differs greatly in effects from that in nature. The pupils got their diplomas, printed reports of project results, and souvenirs. The meeting ended with presentation of the film “The story of a wolf” by Bożena and Jan Walencik.

            Professor Bogumiła Jędrzejewska, the project leader, expresses her gratitude to the staff and PhD students of MRI PAS, who contributed their work and creativity to a great success of our UYE project. We were happy to see the joy and gratitude of the pupils and teachers!