Wolf-dog Hybrid !?

Hello friends! I have always been fascinated by how the dogs (Canis lupis familaris) are subspecies from wolves (Canis lupus)! A great way to imagine I am hugging a wolf will be hugging a Siberian Husky, a breed of Canis lupis familaris, but there’s a big difference between the two. The main difference between these two canids is that Canis lupis familaris underwent the domestication process, where Canis lupus was the first species to be domesticated by humans due to their positive socialization (Anderson, 2018). Socialization is a process for a maturing animal to learn and interact with humans.

Let us find out the differences between these categories together!

Assign options A,B and C to the picture you think suits best:  

A. Domestic dog

B. Free-ranging domestic dog

C. Feral dog

“Feral dogs in Hong Kong” by sumesh2007 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

Here are the answers!

Domestic DogDomestic dog

Adapted the “Feral dogs in Hong Kong” by sumesh2007 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Stray dogs which are going to be fed by humans

Was it hard to differentiate between feral and free-ranging domestic dogs (FRDD)? It was confusing to me before I studied it. Some of the feral dogs do look like FRDD, like these feral dogs in Palestine.

“Feral dogs in Palestine” by بدارين is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

In Singapore, we commonly term the FRDDs as “stray/street dogs’’. The FRDDs can be owned or unowned: The unowned FRDDs are free to roam around, typically living close to human homes and are not controlled by humans (Anderson, 2018). The FRDDs can find food and shelter intentionally or non-intentionally provided by humans. Also, FRDDs can be owned dogs, meaning the owners allow them to roam around on various times of the day without supervision (Coppinger & Coppinger, 2001).

Similarly, feral dogs have gone through the domestication process. The main distinguishing factor of feral dogs from FRDD is that feral dogs avoid humans and have no socialization. They live away from humans without food and shelter support. However, feral dogs are not considered wild animals as have gone through domestication and have the genetic composition for domesticated dogs (Ádám Miklósi, 2015).

Despite the evolution of dogs from wolves, these two candids are finding their way back together via hybridization in recent years. It is of environmental concern as the hybridization of FRDD and wolves can change the genetic integrity of the wolves, which could potentially threaten the fitness of wolves. It was reported that 6 wolf-dog hybrids were found in Estonia and 2 wolf-dog hybrids were found in Latvia (Kadzidlowo Hindrikson, Ma¨nnil, Ozolins, Krzywinski, Saarma, 2012).  A wolf-dog hybrid of male polish spaniel (FRDD, abandoned or free roaming) and female gray wolf (wild animal) was found in Poland, at Wildlife Park (Kadzidlowo Hindrikson et al., 2012).

“First-generation (F1) wolf-dog hybrid from Wildlife Park Kadzidlowo, Poland” by Andrzej Krzywinski is licensed under CC BY 3.0

To conserve the wolf population, wolf hunting should be discouraged and prohibited to prevent the lowering of wolf numbers. With smaller wolf populations, the impacts on hybridization between FRDDs and wolves are amplified, threatening the conservation of wolves, especially if the fitness of subsequent wolf offspring are affected (Kadzidlowo Hindrikson et al., 2012).

I’ll probably get to hug a hybrid wolf soon… Hopefully not since it would mean the wolf species are threatened.

Paws out!

References:

Anderson, E. N. (2018). The first domestication: How wolves and humans coevolved. By Raymond Pierotti and Brandy R. Fogg. 2017. Yale University Press, New Haven. 326 pp. Ethnobiology Letters, 9(2), 247-249. doi:10.14237/ebl.9.2.2018.1379

Coppinger, R., Coppinger, L. (2001). Dogs: a new understanding of canine origin, behavior and evolution. Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL.

Hindrikson, M., Ma¨nnil, P., Ozolins, J., Krzywinski, A., Saarma, U. (2012). Bucking the Trend in Wolf-Dog Hybridization: First Evidence from Europe of Hybridization between Female Dogs and Male Wolves. PLoS ONE 7(10): e46465. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046465

Miklósi, A. (2015;2014;). Dog behaviour, evolution, and cognition (Second ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646661.001.0001

Paws & The Environment

Hello everyone! I am Rachel Ong, freshmen embarking on Bachelor of Environmental Studies (BES) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). I am stuck in love with animals & the natural environment, the 2 most fragile things in the world to me. My feelings of Biophilia – A love for the natural world, was fuelled by the exploration of nature reserves in Singapore and documentaries on National Geographic.

One of my baby steps in trying to “save the animals” was joining an emergency animal hospital as a veterinary nurse. It is an emotional job where I felt like walking on a thin line of life and death. Nevertheless, I had a sense of fulfilment in lessening the pain of animals and enjoyed the job. However, there’s this hidden calling in me that I’m not ‘’saving the animals” enough, specifically, the efforts I make are not impactful enough to help a larger number and species of animals. Well, this explains why I embarked BES in NUS!

My young mind was filled with stories of my father’s childhood “Kampong Village” in Singapore where his family had a farm with domestic animals like chickens, pigs, and ducks. He shares his memories of him sleeping with the ducks and helping mother pigs deliver piglets, meanwhile I would be in envy of those experiences. He shared his friendship with the village dogs which guarded the village and they were always fed by the whole village. He shared his sadness on how some days, the village dogs ventured into the forest and never came back…

What do you think happened to the village dogs? 

For me, it triggered a sense of loss and made me wonder – “Where did the dogs go?”, “Are they lost?” and “Can they survive out there?”. I started questioning the domestication of animals, on how it impacted the lives of the animals and eventually discovered the impacts of the stray dogs and cats, termed as “free-ranging domesticated animals (FRDA)” on the environment – “Oops my father may have contributed to this environmental impact?’’ came to my mind.

Upon reading the news about the Australia government target of culling 2million feral cats by 2020 [1], I naturally got upset over it but managed to find answers to give me closure to these negative feelings.

Join me on my journey in discovering the impacts of FRDA on the environment, with a focus on other parts of the world. As someone who loves domesticated animals, wildlife, and nature (I always get scolded for being a hypocrite for loving these), I will be sharing my experiences in adjusting my emotions in response to the culling of animals. I will highlight the need for wildlife conservation methods to be reconsidered in the face of urban expansion. Finally, I will discuss the management of FRDA and the possibility of applying compassionate conservation to FRDA.

Food for thought by the end of the blog: Are the environmental impacts by FRDA accelerated by anthropogenic factors (e.g urbanisation)?

 

References:

[1] Australia is deadly serious about killing millions of cats (2019, April 25). The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/magazine/australia-cat-killing.html