Researcher Rubina Mondal works at the Dog Lab in Kolkata, which sounds like a place for science and wags. With a background in Zoology and Ecology, heavy involvement with rescue and treatment of street dogs in and around the campus led to a PhD thesis on free-roaming dogs (FRDs)—dogs who live in human habitats and are not bred intentionally by for a purpose, unlike purebred dogs. 

We know them as indies, streeties, pariahs, community dogs, and there are about 70 million of them living alongside us (not necessarily with us) in India. “From a purely scientific perspective,” says Mondal, “dogs are a fascinating species. They are the first domesticated species, which means humans and the ancestors of dogs formed a mutual alliance, based on shared benefits almost 15,000 to 20,000 years back.”