Throughout the history of evolution there have been many different methods and ideologies that have influenced the gene pools and phenotypes of species, one of which is "Artificial Selection". Artificial selection occurs when humans breed animals of the same species together to create a specific overall trait. (Wikipedia, Learner.org, 2010) A great example of artificial selection is the history of dog breeding. Throughout history humans have bred dogs to further develop more ideal physical and behavioral characteristics, and through this we have gotten this wide range of different domestic dog breeds that are very different from their ancestors, both physically and behaviorally. There are many theories about how dogs began breeding. One of the most popular is that humans would rescue orphaned wolf pups and nurse them back to health. As the cubs were cared for on the moor, they became accustomed to living with humans. From there humans would use them as hunting, pest control and “guard dogs” companions. (Dogtime, 2009) Eventually humans would see that some individuals were better at certain tasks than others. For example, an individual who ran very fast, but rarely barked, made a good hunting companion. However, another one that was not good at running, but barked at strangers, was a good watchdog. People would see these characteristics and specifically breed individuals to concentrate certain traits, such as breeding two dark-haired wolves to get one dark-haired offspring, or two large, intimidating wolves to get one large, intimidating offspring. By creating these specific breeds, the descendants of the various matings would have very similar characteristics to each other... middle of paper... they helped to broaden the gene pool within the species. Through it we have not only made domestic dog breeds very different from their ancestors both physically and behaviorally, but also within all the different breeds. It gave the species a diversity that it would never have created on its own naturally in nature. Works cited. NP Network. 20 November 2013... Np. Network. November 18, 2013... Np. Network. November 21, 2013... Np. Network. November 20, 2013... Np. Network. November 19, 2013... Np. Network. November 21 2013..