Canid Hybrid
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Canid hybrids are the result of interbreeding between the species of the genus ''
Canis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant species, such as wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-developed skulls and den ...
''. This often occurs in the wild, and in particular between domestic or feral dogs with wild native canids.


Genetic considerations

The wolf-like canids are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because they all possess 78
chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
s, arranged in 39 pairs and are karyologically indistinguishable from each other. The group includes the genera ''Canis'', ''Cuon'', ''Lupulella'' and ''Lycaon''. The members are the
domestic dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is Domestication of the dog, derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's n ...
''(C. familiaris)'',
gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...
(''C. lupus''),
dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...
(''C. lupus dingo''),
coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...
(''C. latrans''),
golden jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
(''C. aureus''), African wolf (''C. lupaster''),
Ethiopian wolf The Ethiopian wolf (''Canis simensis''), also called the Simien jackal and Simien fox, is a canine native to the Ethiopian Highlands. In southeastern Ethiopia it is also known as the horse jackal. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, ...
(''C. simensis''),
dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...
(''Cuon alpinus''),
black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers. One region includes the southe ...
(''Lupulella mesomelas''),
side-striped jackal The side-striped jackal (''Lupulella adusta)'' is a canine native to central and southern Africa. Unlike the smaller and related black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas''), which dwells in open plains, the side-striped jackal primarily dwel ...
(''L. adusta'') and
African wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Ly ...
(''Lycaon pictus''). Newly proposed members include the
red wolf The red wolf (''Canis rufus'') is a canine native to the southeastern United States. Its size is intermediate between the coyote (''Canis latrans'') and gray wolf (''Canis lupus''). The red wolf's taxonomic classification as being a separate s ...
(''Canis rufus''), and the
eastern wolf The eastern wolf (''Canis lycaon'' or ''Canis lupus lycaon'' or ''Canis rufus lycaon'') also known as the timber wolf, Algonquin wolf or eastern timber wolf, is a canine of debated taxonomy native to the Great Lakes region and southeastern Canad ...
(''Canis lycaon''), subject to a resolution of the dispute as to whether these constitute separate species in their own right or whether they are simply sub-species of the gray wolf (either way, the red & eastern wolves belong to the Canis genus). The members of ''Canis'' can potentially
interbreed In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...
, however, it is believed that ''Cuon, Lupulella'' and ''Lycaon'' cannot breed with each other or with ''Canis''. The Lupulella genus (the
side-striped jackal The side-striped jackal (''Lupulella adusta)'' is a canine native to central and southern Africa. Unlike the smaller and related black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas''), which dwells in open plains, the side-striped jackal primarily dwel ...
and
black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers. One region includes the southe ...
), could theoretically interbreed with each other to produce fertile offspring, but a study of the maternal
mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
of the black-backed jackal could find no evidence of
genotypes The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...
from its most likely mate, the side-striped jackal, indicating that male black-backed jackals had not bred with their sister species. When the differences in number and arrangement of chromosomes is too great, hybridization becomes less and less likely. Other members of the wider dog family,
Canidae Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found within th ...
, such as South American canids, true foxes,
bat-eared fox The bat-eared fox (''Otocyon megalotis'') is a species of fox found on the African savanna. It is the only extant species of the genus ''Otocyon'' and considered a basal canid species. Fossil records indicate this canid first appeared during th ...
es, or
raccoon dog The common raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes procyonoides''), also called the Chinese or Asian raccoon dog, is a small, heavy-set, fox-like canid native to East Asia. Named for its raccoon-like face markings, it is most closely related to foxes. Common ...
s which diverged 7 to 10 million years ago, are less closely related to the wolf-like canids, have fewer chromosomes and cannot hybridize with them. For instance, the
red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
has 34
metacentric Metacentric may refer to: * Metacentric height The metacentric height (GM) is a measurement of the initial static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre. A large ...
chromosomes and from 0 to 8 small B chromosomes, the raccoon dog has 42 chromosomes, and the
fennec fox The fennec fox (''Vulpes zerda'') is a small crepuscular fox native to the deserts of North Africa, ranging from Western Sahara to the Sinai Peninsula. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which serve to dissipate heat and l ...
has 64 chromosomes.


Legality

Dog hybrids kept as pets are prohibited in certain jurisdictions, or are classed as wild animals and must be housed in the same way as purebred wolves. In the United States, legislation differs greatly from state to state. In New York, the law does not allow an individual to house or own a dog hybrid of any kind, even if there is a low percentage of wolf genes in the hybrid. States such as Indiana and Arkansas allow the ownership of hybrid animals, but they regulate it strictly with health records, immunization records, and registration of the animal,http://www.hybridlaw.com/index.php . Retrieved 16 September 2013. while other states, such as Arizona, do not have any laws about owning a wolfdog hybrid. States may or may not create their own laws regarding the issue of wolfdog hybrids. The Ethiopian wolf's conservation is threatened by dog hybridisation.


Wolf hybrids


Wolfdog hybrid

The domestic
dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...
(''Canis familiaris'') is a domesticated species of the
gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...
(''Canis lupus''), along with the
dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...
(''Canis familiaris''). Therefore, crosses between these species are biologically unremarkable and not a hybridization in the same sense as an interbreeding between different species of ''Canidae''. Wolves are different from domestic dogs in that wolves usually have slimmer chests, longer legs, and they also have stronger jaws than those of the domestic dog subspecies.Willems, Robert A. (2013). https://archive.org/details/CAT10401495018 Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter, Volume 5, Number 4, Winter 1994/1995. Retrieved 16 September 2013. The difference in appearance from the wolf to the domestic dog becomes even larger when a mix of the two animals is created. Wolfdogs do not have one common description of their appearance because it varies from one breeding cycle to the next. It differs from cycle to cycle because the number of wolf genes inherited in the animal differs greatly and is recorded in a percentage form. The general layout for describing the percentage of wolfdogs is as follows: 1-49% is considered low content (LC), 50-74% is considered to be mid-content (MC), and 75% and higher is considered to be high content (HC). The percentage of the amount of wolf in a wolfdog decides what the animal will look like. For example, if a wolfdog is 25% husky and 75% wolf, it will appear more like a wolf than a husky because it contains more genes from the wolf. This means that the appearance of the wolfdog will most likely contain a narrower chest, longer legs, and sharper teeth because it inherited more traits from the wolf parent. People wanting to improve domestic dogs or create an
exotic pet An exotic pet is a pet which is relatively rare or unusual to keep, or is generally thought of as a wild species rather than as a domesticated pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time—as animals become firmly enough esta ...
may breed domestic dogs to wolves. Gray wolves have been crossed with dogs that have a wolf-like appearance, such as
German Shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...
s to form the
Czechoslovakian Wolfdog The Czechoslovakian Wolfdog ( cz, Československý vlčák, sk, Československý vlčiak, german: Tschechoslowakischer Wolfhund) is a wolf-dog breed that began as an experiment conducted in Czechoslovakia in 1955. After initially breeding ...
. The breeding of wolf–dog crosses is controversial, with opponents purporting that it produces an animal unfit as a domestic pet. A number of wolfdog breeds are in development. The first generation crosses (one wolf parent, one dog parent) generally are backcrossed to domestic dogs to maintain a domestic temperament and consistent conformation.


Coyote hybrids


Coydogs

Coydogs (the offspring of a male coyote and a female domestic dog) are naturally occurring red or blond color variations of the coyote and
feral dog A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of w ...
s. The breeding cycles of domestic dogs and coyotes are not synchronized and this makes interbreeding uncommon. If interbreeding had been common, each successive generation of the coyote population would have acquired more and more dog-like traits.


Coywolves

Hybridization between gray wolves and coyotes has long been recognized both in the wild and in captivity. In an evolutionary biology research conducted by a team of researchers in the Uppsala University, analysis of control region haplotypes of the mitochondrial DNA and sex chromosomes from Mexican wolves, a critically endangered subspecies of the gray wolf once nearly driven to extinction in the wild, confirmed the presence of coyote markers in some of the wolves. The study suggests that at some point in time, female coyotes managed to mate with some of the male wolves of the remnant wild Mexican wolf populations. Analysis on the haplotype of some coyotes from Texas also detected the presence of male wolf introgression, such as Y chromosomes from the gray wolves in the southern coyotes. In one
cryptozoological Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...
investigation on a corpse of what was initially labelled as a
chupacabra The chupacabra or chupacabras (, literally 'goat-sucker'; from es, chupar, 'to suck', and , 'goats') is a legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas, with its first purported sightings reported in Puerto Rico in 1995. The na ...
, examinations conducted by the UC Davis team and the Texas State University concluded based on the sex chromosomes that the male animal was in fact another coyote and wolf hybrid sired by a male Mexican wolf. DNA analysis consistently shows that all existing
red wolves The red wolf (''Canis rufus'') is a canine native to the southeastern United States. Its size is intermediate between the coyote (''Canis latrans'') and gray wolf (''Canis lupus''). The red wolf's taxonomic classification as being a separate sp ...
carry coyote genes. This has caused a problem for canid taxonomy, as hybrids are not normally thought of as species, though the convention is to continue to refer to red wolves as a subspecies of the gray wolf, ''Canis lupus rufus'', with no mention of the coyote taxon ''latrans''. In recent history, the taxonomic status of the red wolf has been widely debated. Mech (1970) suggested that red wolves may be fertile hybrid offspring from gray wolf (''Canis lupus'') and coyote (''C. latrans'') interbreeding. Wayne and Jenks (1991) and Roy et al. (1994b, 1996) supported this suggestion with genetic analysis. Phillips and Henry (1992) present logic supporting the contention that the red wolf is a subspecies of the gray wolf. However, recent genetic and morphological evidence suggests that the red wolf is a unique taxon. Wilson et al. (2000) report that gray wolves (''Canis lupus lycaon'') in southern Ontario appear genetically very similar to the red wolf and that these two canids may be subspecies of one another and not a subspecies of gray wolf. Wilson et al. (2000) propose that red wolves and ''C. lupus lycaon'' should be a separate species, ''C. lycaon'', with their minor differences acknowledged via subspecies designation. North American wolf biologists and geneticists also concluded that ''C. rufus'' and ''C. lupus lycaon'' were genetically more similar to each other than either was to ''C. lupus'' or ''C. latrans'' (B. T. Kelly, unpubl.). In 2002, orphometric analyses of skulls also indicate that the red wolf is likely not to be a gray wolf–coyote hybrid (Nowak 2002). Therefore, while the red wolf's taxonomic status remains unclear, there is mounting evidence to support ''C. rufus'' as a unique canid taxon. Classifying animals commonly referred to as "
eastern coyote An eastern coyote in the snow near the West Virginia–Virginia state line">Virginia.html" ;"title="West Virginia–Virginia">West Virginia–Virginia state line The eastern coyote is a wild North American canine hybrid with both coyote and wol ...
s" or "
northeastern coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...
s" has become a problem for taxonomists, as it is unclear what new taxon will be used to refer to this new population of animals.


Dingo hybrids

The
dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...
(''Canis lupus dingo'') breeds freely with other domestic dogs. This is now so widespread that in some areas, dingoes are now mostly
mixed-breed dog A mongrel, mutt or mixed-breed dog is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized breed and including those that are the result of intentional breeding. Although the term ''mixed-breed dog'' is sometimes preferred, many mongrel ...
s, crossed in recent times with dogs from other parts of the world. However, DNA study shows that "the dingo originates from domesticated dogs, originally from East Asia" (which reverted to the wild) and so interbreeding between dingos and other domestic dogs is also not a hybridization in the same sense as an interbreeding between different species of ''Canidae''. Some dingo hybrids are accepted back into the wild dingo population, where they breed with pure dingoes. The
Australian Cattle Dog The Australian Cattle Dog (ACD), or simply Cattle Dog, is a breed of herding dog originally developed in Australia for droving cattle over long distances across rough terrain. This breed is a medium-sized, short-coated dog that occurs in two m ...
and
Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog The Stumpy is a naturally bobtailed or tailless, medium-sized cattle dog similar and/or related to the Australian Cattle Dog which is commonly referred to as a “Heeler”, whereas, the Stumpy is not. The Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog was ...
breeds are known to have been created by crossing domesticated herding dogs, like the
Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Many ...
, with the dingo.


Jackal hybrids

Although hybridization between wolves and golden jackals has never been observed, evidence of such occurrences was discovered through mtDNA analysis on jackals in Bulgaria. Although there is no genetic evidence of gray wolf-jackal hybridization in the Caucasus Mountains, there have been cases where otherwise genetically pure golden jackals have displayed remarkably gray wolf-like
phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...
s, to the point of being mistaken for wolves by trained biologists. *In ''
The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication ''The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication'' is a book by Charles Darwin that was first published in January 1868. A large proportion of the book contains detailed information on the domestication of animals and plants but it al ...
'', Charles Darwin wrote:
Several years ago, I saw confined in the Zoological Gardens of London a female hybrid from an English dog and jackal, which even in this the first generation was so sterile that, as I was assured by her keeper, she did not fully exhibit her proper periods; but this case, from numerous instances have occurred of fertile hybrids from these two animals, was certainly exceptional.
*
Robert Armitage Sterndale Robert Armitage Sterndale (30 June 1839 – 3 October 1902) was a British naturalist, artist, writer and statesman who worked in British India before becoming governor general of St. Helena. Sterndale was born in 1839, the fourth son of Marga ...
mentioned experimental golden jackal/dog hybrids from
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
in his ''Natural History of Mammals in India and Ceylon'', noting that glaring jackal traits could be exhibited in hybrids even after three generations of crossing them with dogs. *In
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, golden jackal/
Lapponian Herder The Lapponian Herder (Lapinporokoira or Lapp Reindeer Dog or Lapsk Vallhund) is a breed of dog from Finland, one of three Lapphund breeds developed from a type of dog used by the Sami people for herding and guarding their reindeer. Appearanc ...
hybrids were bred as sniffer dogs because jackals have a superior sense of smell and Lapponian Herders are good cold climate dogs. Also,
Fox Terrier Fox Terriers are two different breeds of the terrier dog type: the Smooth Fox Terrier and the Wire Fox Terrier. Both of these breeds originated in the 19th century from a handful of dogs who are descended from earlier varieties of British terr ...
,
Norwegian Lundehund The Norwegian Lundehund (Norwegian: ''Norsk lundehund'') is a small dog breed of the Spitz type that originates from Norway. Its name is a compound noun composed of the elements ''lunde'', meaning puffin (Norwegian ''lunde'', "puffin", or ''lunde ...
, and
Spitz Spitz (derived from the German word ''spitz'' 'pointed') is a type of domestic dog characterized by long, thick, and often white fur, and pointed ears and muzzles. The tail often curls over the dog's back or droops. While all of the breeds rese ...
blood were combined to create the
Sulimov dog Sulimov is a municipality and village in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered b ...
.Viegas, Jennifer. Animal Planet
Jackal-Dog Created for Airport Security
As well as a superior sense of smell, important at low temperatures where substances are less volatile and therefore less pungent, Sulimov dogs are small-sized and can work in confined spaces. When tired, their normally curled tails droop, making it clear to the handler that the dog needs to be rested. The jackal hybrids were bred by Klim Sulimov, senior research assistant at the D.S. Likhachev Scientific Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection in Russia. Male jackal pups had to be fostered on a Siberian Husky bitch in order to imprint the jackals on dogs. Female jackals accepted male Huskies more readily. The half-breed jackal-dogs were difficult to train and were bred back to Huskies to produce quarter-breed hybrids (quadroons). These hybrids were small, agile, trainable and had an excellent sense of smell. Twenty-five jackal-dog hybrids are used by
Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
at
Sheremetyevo International Airport Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport ( rus, links=no, Международный аэропорт Шереметьево имени А. С. Пушкина, p=ʂɨrʲɪˈmʲetʲjɪvə ''Mezhdunarodny aeroport Sheremetyevo imen ...
in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
for functions including bomb-sniffing. Their breeding program dates back to 1975, but it was not applied to bomb detection until 2002.


References


External links


Wolf Dog resourcesWolf dogsBBC News: Sulimov DogsMoscow News: Sulimov Dogs

WolfSource
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canid Hybrid Dogs Canis lupus dingo Wolves Coyotes Jackals