More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Sled dogs pull sleds for recreation and work. Sled dogs have been helping humans travel across the planet's coldest regions for centuries, hauling supplies, people, and equipment across the snow and ice. In the process, this important role that goes above and beyond simply being "man's best friend" could have a visible impact on their evolution. Sled dogs may have evolved shorter legs to help them pull loads more efficiently.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. The Iditarod is the longest annual sled dog race– covering over 1,500 miles across Alaska. A close look into canine genetics reveals sled dogs have been around and on the move for thousands of years. Specifically, the Greenland sled dog–called Qimmeq (singular), or Qimmit (plural) in Greenlandic–has a history traceable all the way back 9,500 years to Zhokhov Island in Eastern Siberia. And they've been a distinct, isolated group for about 1,000 years of that time.