The Africanis is a dog

landrace A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolatio ...

found across

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

Description

As is typical with landraces, there are several regional variations, believed to be the result of isolation and, to a limited degree, deliberate breeding. Some modern writers describe the Africanis as a

pariah dog Pye-dog, or sometimes pariah dog, is a term used to describe an ownerless, half-wild, free-ranging dog that lives in or close to human settlements throughout Asia. The term is derived from the Sanskrit ''para'', which translates to "outsider". T ...

. This is considered an inappropriate classification, as the term typically denotes an ownerless, free-ranging dog. Considered a landrace with limited human interference in their breeding, the Africanis has also been maintained by human owners. The Africanis is a medium-sized, lightly built dog with a long slender muzzle and, usually, a short coat. It has been described as resembling a cross between a

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

, a

terrier Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary ...

and a

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 ...

. It can be found in almost any colour or combination of colours, although fawns, browns, brindles and blacks with various white markings are common. A distinctive, possibly primitive, feature is a black patch found high on the outside of the tail where the

caudal gland Scent gland are exocrine glands found in most mammals. They produce semi-viscous secretions which contain pheromones and other semiochemical compounds. These odor-messengers indicate information such as status, territorial marking, mood, and Anim ...

is found in the wild

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 u ...

. The Africanis usually stands between . Being a

, minor variations in appearance may be common. The Africanis is nonetheless known to breed true to a recognisable form.

History

Africa's indigenous dogs may be descended from ancient Egyptian dogs found throughout the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...

around 5,900 years ago. It is believed the descendants of these dogs spread throughout Africa with tribal movements, first throughout the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

and finally reaching southern Africa around the 6th century AD. The Africanis has almost always been attached to

human settlements In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities ...

in southern Africa. The dogs could have been used to help herd sheep, goats and cattle, guard against predators and help their human companions in the hunt. The Africanis has been known by a number of names. These include the

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

dog, umbwa wa ki-shenzi ("traditional dog" in

Kiswahili Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Swahili ...

, the

Khoekhoe Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

dog, the

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Bophuthatswana, the former ba ...

dog and the Zulu dog. Other local names include Sica, Isiqha, Ixhalaga, Ixalagha, Isigola, I-Twina and Itiwina. In older texts the potentially offensive terms 'kaffir dog', 'kaffir brak' or 'kraal dog' were also used. While generally looked down upon by European settlers who preferred their imported dog breeds, the Africanis was held in higher esteem by Europeans in Africa than the

Indian pariah dog The Indian pariah dog, also known as the Indian native dog or INDog, South Asian pye dog and Desi Kutta, is a landrace of dog native to the Indian subcontinent. They have erect ears, a wedge-shaped head, and a curved tail. It is easily trainabl ...

was in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. In recent times efforts have been made to protect, preserve and promote these dogs, and prevent them from being split into a number of different breeds based upon different distinguishing physical features. In South Africa, a society has been established to preserve the Africanis, the Africanis Society of Southern Africa.

Notes

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite journal , last=Arman , first=Koharik , date=September 2007 , title=A new direction for kennel club regulations and breed standards , journal=Canadian Veterinary Journal , volume=48 , issue=9 , pages=953–965 , pmc=1950109 , pmid=17966340 {{cite book , last1=Moggs , first1=Tim , last2=Sealy , first2=Judith , author-link2=Judith Sealy , chapter=Africanis: the pre-colonial dog of Africa , editor1-last=van Sittert , editor1-first=Lance , editor2-last=Swart , editor2-first=Sandra , date=2008 , title=Canis Africanis: a dog history of Southern Africa , location=Leiden , publisher=Brill , pages=35–52 , isbn=978-90-04-15419-3 {{cite book , last=Morris , first=Desmond , author-link=Desmond Morris , date=2001 , title=Dogs: the ultimate dictionary of over 1,000 dog breeds , location=North Pomfret, VT , publisher=Trafalgar Square Publishing , pages=685–686 , isbn=1-57076-219-8 {{cite web , url=https://dsae.co.za/entry/kaffir-dog/e03586 , title=entry for 'kaffir dog' , author= , date=23 September 2022 , website=Dictionary of South African English , publisher=DSAE , access-date=23 September 2022

External links

AfriCanis Society of Southern Africa"Africanis, the original dog of Africa" by Mary Alexander, South Africa Gateway, 5 October 2020''The dog shaped by Africans for Africa'', by Catherine Corrett, 31 October, 2014, ''Africa Geographic''
Dog breeds originating in Africa Dog landraces Landraces of Africa

Description

History

See also

Notes

References

External links