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A jackal–dog hybrid is a
canid hybrid Canid hybrids are the result of interbreeding between the species of the subfamily ''Caninae''. Genetic considerations The wolf-like canids are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because they all possess 78 chromos ...
resulting from a mating between a domestic
dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...
and a
golden jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called the common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Eurasia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter. It is smaller a ...
. Such crossbreeding has occurred numerous times in captivity and was first confirmed to occasionally happen in the wild in Croatia in 2015.


Possible constraints

The golden jackal (''Canis aureas'') is a member of the same genus, ''
Canis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant taxon, extant species, such as Wolf, wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-develo ...
'', as
wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...
,
coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
s, and
domestic dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers ...
s; all of the latter three are known to hybridize naturally. It is conjectured that the domestic dog and other ''
Canis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant taxon, extant species, such as Wolf, wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-develo ...
'' species ''cannot'' hybridise with the two other species that are called "jackals" which are both in the separate '' Lupulella'' genus: the
side-striped jackal The side-striped jackal (''Lupulella adusta'' or ''Schaeffia 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-strip ...
(''Lupulella adusta''), and the
black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas'') is a medium-sized Caninae, canine native to East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly . One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, includin ...
(''Lupulella mesomelas''). Similar matings between golden jackals and grey wolves have never been directly observed, though evidence of such occurrences was discovered through
mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...
analysis of golden jackals in
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. Although no genetic evidence has been found of grey wolf–jackal hybridization in the Caucasus Mountains, some cases exist where apparently genetically pure golden jackals have displayed remarkably grey 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 (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...
s, to the point of being mistaken for wolves by trained biologists.


History

British surgeon and amateur naturalist John Hunter was the first to write an account of the two species' interfertility in 1787. He described how a ship captain of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
adopted a female jackal and had it mated to his spaniel, after which it whelped six pups upon arriving in England. Hunter purchased one of the female hybrid pups and attempted to mate it with several dogs upon reaching maturity. Further crossbreeding experiments were initially hampered by the hybrid female's apparent lack of interest in the dogs brought to it, though it subsequently mated with a terrier and produced five pups. Marie Jean Pierre Flourens attempted his own crossbreeding experiments nearly a century later, noting that first-generation matings between the two species tended to produce animals in which jackal characteristics were dominant, having straight ears, hanging tails, lack of barking, and wild temperaments. A similar observation was made by Robert Armitage Sterndale, who recorded a jackal-dog crossbreeding experiment spanning several generations in
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, noting that glaring jackal traits could be exhibited in hybrids even after three generations of crossing them with dogs. Flourens, however, observed that his jackal hybrids became
sterile Sterile or sterility may refer to: *Asepsis, a state of being free from biological contaminants * Sterile (archaeology), a sediment deposit which contains no evidence of human activity *Sterilization (microbiology), any process that eliminates or ...
after the fourth generation, but could be mated back to either parent species.
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
wrote of a first-generation hybrid kept in the
London Zoo London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828 and was originally intended to be used as a colle ...
which was completely sterile, though he noted that this was an exceptional case, as first-generation hybrids have been known to reproduce successfully. He criticized Flourens's earlier experiments, noting that the specimens he used were all closely related; thus, their subsequent sterility would have been explainable as a result of
inbreeding Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely genetic distance, related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genet ...
. Breeding experiments in Germany with
poodle The Poodle, called the in German () and the in French, is a breed of water dog. The breed is divided into four varieties based on size, the Standard Poodle, Medium Poodle, Miniature Poodle and Toy Poodle, although the Medium Poodle is no ...
s and jackals and later on with the resulting dog–jackal hybrids showed a decrease in fertility and significant communication problems, as well as an increase of genetic diseases after three generations of interbreeding between the hybrids, unlike with
wolfdog A wolfdog is a canine produced by the mating of a domestic dog (''Canis familiaris'') with a gray wolf (''Canis lupus''), eastern wolf (''Canis lycaon''), red wolf (''Canis rufus''), or Ethiopian wolf (''Canis simensis'') to produce a ...
s, which remain healthy and never become sterile. These "puchas" (poodle-jackals), like the "pucos" (poodle coyotes), exhibited much less domestic dog-like behaviour than the wolf-hybrids. In 2015, hybridization between golden jackals and domestic dogs in the wild was confirmed when three specimens with anomalous traits were killed in Croatia and had their genetic markers analyzed. Two of the specimens, a light-colored female and a melanistic male, were very jackal-like in appearance, save for their coloration and rounded ears, while one was much more doglike, lacking the jackal's conjoined middle paw pads and sporting dewclaws and a white coat with brown patches. This last specimen was thought to be the pup of the female, which had likely backcrossed with a stray Istrian Shorthaired Hound. The black hybrid was revealed to be a backcross to jackal.


Sulimov dog

The Sulimov dog originated in Russia from an initial hybrid between Nenets Herding Laika and golden jackals to produce one-quarter jackal hybrids. The hybrid was developed by Klim Sulimov. The resulting breed was thought to have the jackal's power of scent and the husky's resistance to cold. During recent years,
Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...
has used them for
airport security Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats. Aviation security is a combination of measures and hum ...
as detection dogs to sniff out explosives otherwise undetectable by machinery. Sulimov's breeding program dates back to 1975, but was not applied to bomb detection until 2002. At the start of the breeding process, male jackal pups had to be fostered on a Lapponian Herder bitch to imprint the jackals on dogs. Female jackals accepted male dogs more easily. The half-breed jackal-dogs were hard to train and were bred back to Huskies to produce quarter-bred hybrids (quadroons). To improve trainability, other dogs were bred into the line: A Nenets Herding
Laika Laika ( ; , ; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into lo ...
, a
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 United Kingdo ...
, and a
Spitz A spitz (; , in reference to the pointed muzzle) is a Dog type, type of domestic dog consisting of between 50 and 70 breeds depending on classification. There is no precise definition of 'spitz' but typically most spitz breeds have pricked ears ...
. These hybrids were small, agile, and trainable, and had excellent noses. The jackal–dog hybrids were bred together for seven generations to establish the breed. The result was an easily trainable dog with a superior sense of smell, called "Sulimov dogs" after their breeder. As described by Sulimov:
My dogs combine the qualities of Arctic reindeer herding dogs, which can work in temperatures as low as −70°C, and jackals which enjoy the heat up to +40°C. They're perfect for our country."
Aeroflot used 25 Sulimov dogs at
Sheremetyevo Airport Sheremetyevo International Airport (, , Internal code: ШРМ) is one of four international airports that serve the city of Moscow. It is the busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states, as well as the ninth-busiest airport in Euro ...
,
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, for functions which include bomb-sniffing. They may one day be registered as a breed of
working dog A working dog is a dog used to perform practical tasks, as opposed to pet or companion dogs. Definitions vary on what a working dog is, they are sometimes described as any dog trained for and employed in meaningful work; other times as any ...
, but at present only about 40 Sulimov dogs exist, and all are the property of
Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...
. They are trained from puppyhood to recognize 12 components of explosives. Unlike more common sniffing dogs, they take the initiative in searching.


See also

*
Canid hybrid Canid hybrids are the result of interbreeding between the species of the subfamily ''Caninae''. Genetic considerations The wolf-like canids are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because they all possess 78 chromos ...
*
Coydog A coydog is a canid hybrid resulting from a mating between a male coyote and a female dog. Hybrids of both sexes are fertile and can be successfully bred through four generations. Similarly, a dogote is a hybrid with a dog father and a coyote mothe ...
* Dogs portal


Footnote


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackal-dog hybrid Canid hybrids Jackals Dog breeding Dog breeds originating in Russia Dog breeds originating in the Soviet Union Detection dogs Aeroflot Dog law