East African black-backed jackal
I’ve been looking into the black-backed jackal this week. At first I was checking into the possibility that they can hybridize with domestic dogs.
I am still skeptical that they can.
However, what I have found about this species is they are quite strange.
There are two populations of this species that are not contiguous. One exists in southern Africa, and the other exists in East Africa. The East African subspecies is larger than the southern African or “Cape” subspecies. It also does not howl and has a more carnivorous diet than the other subspecies. (The only howling jackal in East Africa is the golden jackal).
I have heard people claim that both of these are good enough reasons to consider domestic dogs a separate species from the wolf, but because we’re dealing with two subspecies of a jackal, an animal without all the cultural baggage the dogs and wolves have, it is universally accepted that these both represent Canis mesomelas.
Now, that was weird enough.
It turns out that the East African subspecies has rather amazing variance in its mtDNA sequences. Contiguous populations have been found to have as much as 8 % variance in that part of their genome. That’s a lot, and the questions it has raised have not been answered. We do not know why there is so much variance within this single subspecies.
If I were a molecular geneticist, this is the dog species that would have my attention. After all, the dog genome has been decoded, and we are starting to find answers about the evolutionary relationship between dogs and wolves.
No one has answered these questions, and because it is now accepted that the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal are the oldest members of Canis, these animals might have a lot to tell us about the other species in this genus.
Black-backed jackals are much more aggressive with other jackals and with each other than either golden or side-striped jackals, and although they are capable of killing larger prey than themselves because they just that bold.
In essence, a black-backed jackal is a naturally occurring Jack Russell terrier.
They are also probably the first species of the genus Canis with which hominids and later modern humans would have had some familiarity. These are probably the first “dogs” to scavenge off of hunter-gatherer kills.
Yet no studies have found that these animals have contributed to the dog genome. There are plenty of dogs in East and Southern Africa that look like black backed jackals, and some traditional societies call such dogs “jackal-dogs.” I have not heard of any verified hybrids between these two species, although they are often speculated.
I don’t think I can believe until I see a study that shows a definite hybrid, because I think what we’re seeing here is that jackals and dogs are developing similar conformation in what is called parallel evolution. Both of these animals live in the same habitat and both share a common ancestor. However, the ancestor for the dogs was the Eurasian wolf, which evolved from different line of the ancient Canis species. When the two species have to live in the same habitat and eat the same food, the Eurasian wolf derived species begins to develop adaptations and phenotypes that are similar to the native East and Southern African species. (This differs from convergent evolution because convergent evolution is when two entirely unrelated species develop similar features and adaptations– like the wolf-like canids and the Thylacine.)
Now, that’s the established view. This is also pretty much what I think is happening here.
However, I was confronted with a study that did make me scratch my head.
In South Africa’s Western Cape Province, bones dating to the later Stone Age that were assumed to be domestic dogs , simply because of their proximity to human settlements. When the DNA was tested, these “dogs” all turned out to be black-backed jackals. That means that humans have had a relationship with Canis mesomelas that could have become like the relationship between humans and the wolves that became dogs.
It is also possible that there were populations of black-backed jackals that were semi-domesticated before the arrival of wolf-derived domestic dogs. When these dogs arrived, they replaced the semi-domesticated black-backed jackals as the most common canids in the camps.
That we have never been able to fully domesticate these jackals is another big question to the Coppinger hypothesis, because it is very likely that these jackals have been relying upon human kills and the excesses of civilization for a very long time. Yet there is no evidence of fully domesticated form of black-backed jackal, which would definitely be genetically distinct from the wolf-derived domestic dogs.
Now, I found all of this out through a discussion on the blog and through e-mail with a reader who has seen golden jackals and dogs live in close proximity in India. This reader is skeptical of the evidence that dogs are derived from C. lupus and thinks that jackals did play some role. I am willing to admit that the golden jackal and Ethiopian wolf may have played some minuscule role, as could the coyote. However, black-backed and side-striped jackals probably did not.
I am open to the possibility that such hybrids exist, but I want proof n terms DNA evidence. I know these “Africanis” dogs look like jackals, but as we have seen time and again, looks alone cannot indicate that sort of relationship.
I want to thank Gurjinder Sahota for alerting me to these studies, and at least opening my mind about the possibility that black-backed jackals could hybridize with domestic dog and that jackals might be an ancestor of the domestic dog. Most of the links in this post actually come from our discussions on this blog and via e-mail.
Although I was aware that East African black-backed jackals had wide variance in their mtDNA sequences, I had no idea that ancient African dog remains have been found to be black-backed jackals.
I think the really big question is why black-backed jackals were never turned into true domestic animals. I think the big reason may have to do with their heightened aggression towards their social partners. I don’t think hunter-gatherers would tolerate that sort of aggression in a pet , which is one reason why I think the original wolf populations were far less aggressive towards their social partners than modern wolves are now. Further, both wolves and men had similar ecological niches, which is the basis of Schleidt and Shalter’s theory about the co-evolution of man and dog.
To me, this questions all lead back to one major conundrum:
Why wolves and not these others?
Update: (Greyling 2004) Finds no evidence of jackal in DNA of Africanis dogs.
I still think there is a chance that a semi domesticated “dog” derived from black-backed jackals may have existed in southern Africa.
I think there is still so much more research that is needed to be done.
The fact that so many populations of dogs exist along side golden jackals, black backed jackals, coyotes, ethiopian wolves and all the variants of Canis Lupus (which vary so greatly they could be different species here!) it is very likely that different dogs may have any of the above (even if it is only a small contribution) somewhere in their ancestary.
Researchers are unravelling so many twists in the dog family that this may take time to come out. Look at black coated wolves as one example. It has only recently been discovered that they inherited their coat colour from dogs.
Jackals are very sociable, they come into villages and towns to scavenge around garbage dumps in asia and africa.
In India for example (and Pakistan) when cattle, horses and donkeys die they are taken to ‘carcass dumps’ (normally well away from villages) where vultures, feral dogs and jackals’ can gather in great numbers to consume the flesh and bones.
Jackals come into close proximity to dogs and can often be seen feeding next to one another. Jackals will also come into villages at night to scavenge rubbish and waste.
They are quite bold and will venture near human settlements.
Would this have made them easier to tame compared to wolves who have a natural fear of humans and are not so inclined to come close to people?
Could some jackals have been tamed being smaller and more bolder, or could they have mated with dogs and added their genes to the dogs that were domesticated from wolves? Again this may have happened in some parts of the world but not others, so only a small percentage of dogs may have jackals as contributors to their genetic makeup.
Then again on the other hand wolves in Italy are now seen scavenging at garbage sites again along side dogs and hybrids have been proven to exist, so again this shows that some wolves will take a bold step and again this could depend on individual animals and situations, i.e lack of wild prey, hunger etc.
The other glaring issue for me is the apparent lack of sweat glands on wolves feet (or concentration of sweat glands), this however is not the case for dogs, western coyotes and jackals (Eastern coyotes also have few sweat glands but then it is said they have wolf ancestary).
If the wolf is the only single true ancestor then why would dogs have evolved to have sweat glands on their paws just like wetern coyotes and jackals?
Also wolves have a pre-caudal gland on the overside of their tail, some dog breeds do and some don’t I am not sure if jackals and coyotes do though? Does that mean the dogs that don’t which is the vast majority have something else in their ancient lineage?? Why didn;t wolves pass this on to all dogs?
Also wolves from the middle east and southern asia have dog like vocalisations, they use clear short sharp barks, whereas european and wolves from America howl more frequently, so does that mean that these wolves are the ancestors of husky and malamute type dogs only?
The fact that the gray wolf varies so much has caused debate as to whether all these subspecies really are subspecies or are they different species? Some of the small short coated indian, arabian iand ranian wolves look so much like the jackals and feral dogs of their regions it is hard to tell them apart.
Arabian wolves have also been spotted with brown eyes meaning that they must have some dog genes behind them as pure wolves normally have yellow to green shades for eye colour.
I still think there is a lot more to unravel and that dogs have more than the wolf behind them as an ancestor or at least some populations of dogs do anyway.
I have a video that I have taken myself from north india which shows a dog/jackal hybrid feeding along side feral dogs at a rubbish site.
This hybrids mum was a golden jackal and sire a feral dog (this goes in line with the theory that female jackals will accept dogs as mates more easily).
Why this jackal bitch chose a dog as a mate I have no idea. The fact she did and she raised at least one pup to adulthood means this hybrid is free to mingle with the dog population. If he is successful in mating with a feral dog (bitch) this would mean he would be introducing jackal genes into a local dog population.
Its like dropping an ink drop into a bucket of water (jackal genes being the ink drop and the bucket of water representing the dog population/genes).
I wonder how many times these occurences have happened over the past many thousands of years and if some genes from jackals have passed through to some dogs but not all.
Dog genetics have been studied extensively but not every dogs dna so if some dogs have been missed, could they be the ones that carry some jackal dna??
I think nothing is ever set in stone and as more research is carried out more surprises will be thrown up…just like the recent one proving black wolves (and coyotes) inherited their colouration to ancient liasions with domestic dogs….
I am sure more surprises will come apparent but this may mean every variety of the gray wolf, golden jackal, types of black backed jackal, coyote and dog populations across the world need to be studied further..this could take many decades!
The question then would be how much have dogs affected golden jackal DNA?
Because if they mother is a jackal, it will imprint on jackals, and select a jackal as a mate. And thus, it would affect the golden jackal species.
The caudal gland is present in all dogs; it’s just not active.
As far as I know, only northern wolves lack the sweat glands on the feet. It’s an adaptation to living in very cold climates, which is even more evidence that Middle Eastern wolves are the ancestor of the dog. The Indian wolf has been proposed to be a new species, but it could have also played a role.
The analysis of the dog genome has found that wolves and dogs are just minimally different from one another in terms of their DNA sequence.
But you are right about not every dog being part of the analysis. For example, there were no Sulimov dogs sampled.
But every pet dog that has been sampled and every pariah dog that has been sampled thus far has been a C. lupus.
It doesn’t mean they won’t find them. It’s just they aren’t a major source for genes in domestic dogs.
What’s interesting about Canis hybrids is that wolf and dog hybrids are always fertile no matter how many generations you breed hybrid to hybrid. Coyote/dog hybrids lose fertility after three generations. Golden jackal hybrids also lose fertility after three generations. (I have the study somewhere). This strongly suggests that dogs are much more closely related to wolves than to coyotes or golden jackals.
I don’t deny that golden jackals are very capable of interbreeding with dogs and wolves and coyotes.
I’m just very skeptical of the other two species of jackal.
I’ve not seen any studies or analysis on hybrids with those species. All of these have 78 chromosomes, but chromosome number alone cannot denote interfertility. Przewalski’s horse has a different chromosome number than the domestic horse, but it can interbreed with it and produce fertile offspring. But other than anecdote, I’ve not heard of any side-striped or black-backed jackal hybrids. I know that Wayne, who heads many of these studies, thinks it’s possible.
But I’m skeptical.
I need to see a hybrid that has had its DNA tested.
I certainly believe that golden jackals and dogs do hybridize at dumps. Dogs and wolves do the same thing in Europe!
If we assume that it’s female jackals breeding with dogs and wolves, then we would expect to find some mitochondrial DNA in a dog.
But it hasn’t been found yet.
MtDNA is inherited matrilinearly.
If a female jackal produced puppies that bred back into the dog population, no matter how many years ago, we would find jackal mtDNA in a dog.
In the US, we have found coyotes with dog mtDNA. They look just like normal coyotes, but somewhere in their ancestry, a domestic bitch bred with a dog coyote.
I was just looking for more confirmation that the Jack Russell Terrier out cross or so called Lakeland cross which started in the 1980s was something new and desirable for English Hunt Terriers and that it probably did not originate in Britain. The Victorian Fox Terrier show dog suddenly re-emerged as “classic English breed” in the 1980s after a century of not hunting at all, basically originating as just a Borzoi Collie- Jack Russell mix bred for long elegant features and not for hunting. I have written a 10, 000 word article on the breed history of the Jack Russell Terrier from the Middle Ages to the Present just because I had a hunch that there was a conspiracy to hide the fact that the Jack Russell Terrier did not get out crossed to a mysterious and unpopular Lakeland Terrier. Also odd is that shortly there after the British Hunting Act of 2004 banned the type of hunt for which English Hunt Terriers were bred in first place. Yes England, Scottland, and Wales have banned Fox Hunting and added a couple of other British mammals to the protection list like Hares and Mice, but not Rabbits and Rats. The Act is splitting hairs to take the recreation out of hunting with dogs. Last I read Fox Hunting was not banned in Northern Ireland. Yes Jack Russells like Jackals would hunt alone or in pairs and not packs due to aggression toward members of their own gender unlike wolves like the Timber Wolf which hunts in packs. Carpathian wolves are said to be solitary hunters. As the Jack Russell Terrier has Dutch familiarity in history dating back to the early 1700s like “Japanese Terriers,” exported by the Dutch, I thought there could be a South African Connection. Many JRT judges are South African in origin and are well known among JRT breeders in the US. Jack Russells are popular in all English Speaking countries and also the Netherlands. Could a 78 chromosome Jackal have been hybridized with a Wire Fox Terrier and found its way to the Parson JRT? A Lakeland doesn’t make sense unless the amber eyes and darker saddle mean that the Lakeland was hybridized too. Still there is a lack of intermediate generations and I dare guess in Egland as well unless they all went to Brian Plummer. Today Jack Russells have curded curls for some unexplained reason when the “Wire Fox Terrier” was previously undesirable to hunt terrier enthusiasts who prefer neat low maintenance coats. In the US we have no doubt crossed Jack Russells to Chihuahuas just so they can fit in a Groundhog hole and created great bed bug and termite dogs. Did South Africans do something similar with Jackals in the absence of the fearless and presumed extinct White English Terrier? I have no doubts that the 600 or so Japanese Terriers left in the world were early Jack Russell Terriers before some probable Sheltie out cross straightend their Italian Greyhound backs and gave them an obedience gene at least in the Parson lines. Some other cross at the time of “The Parson” made them a type of bull Terrier. Jack Russells have always had the wrong ears for their breed which points to many other breeds. Since the 1990’s Jack Russells are even less Greyhound like, less Bully like and have tails like a Basenji. God only knows what goes on abroad, in the dark, and behind closed doors. Jackals can smell a Human from 50 yards or more and avoid a meeting. Today’s Jack Russell can smell a Robin’s nest in a Bush from the same distance and knock it out of the bush. Jackals steal food from out of the mouths of hungry Lions and Hyenas. Jack Russells steal food right out of the McDonalds bag while you drive them home from the park. See what I mean? Please don’t forhet the “quadroons” that the Russian bomb squad uses to find exposives in airports. They are a trainable one fourth Jackal and Husky cross. One half was not trainable. Take care!
The jackal in that Russian cross was a golden jackal, not a black-backed.
I think you can look to the domestication of equids as a parallel. Onagers were at one time domesticated and used (Sumeria). Zebras have proven to be ‘too hard” although it’s possible to tame them and some have been used in circuses, etc. Yet the difference between these equids in terms of domestication potential is fairly small. I suspect that the more “pack oriented” social nature of wolves may have been the tipping point as well as the big game hunting nature — because early people more or less were big game hunters. A dog to help you catch rabbits is fun, but helping you to bring down an impala or deer is a much bigger payoff. In herding, a dog that will “offset” from the herdsman and fetch to you is critical — and yet this is not that different from coordinated driving of herds towards packmembers in wolf packs (there’s a number of National Geo videos that show this extremely well). The wolf is simply a better model than a jackal, just as a horse is more effective than a zebra or an onager.
Vr, Peggy Richter
That’s a good parallel.
Black-backed jackals would be good feists or terriers, but I don’t think the average person in those days wanted to live on groundhog.
Well I meant modern day South Africans. I am not concerned with big game hunters only in is it possible that a Jackal hybridized Wire Fox Terrier or Lakeland Terrier out of South Africa went through British Customs and quarantine in the late 1970s?? I am just wondering why all of a sudden Patterdales and Jack Russells got curls. Patterdales were originally black. The JRTCA (Jack Russell Terrier Club of America) in the 1990s expressed comtempt for the proposed AKC acceptance of the JRT in the Terrier Group. It happened anyway in 1997. Their concern and reason given by the JRTCA was that the Victorian show dog Fox Terrier created in the late Victorian Age, was an example of what could happen when dogs are bred only for looks and not ability. These articles were in the club magazine “True Grit” that the JRTCA put out though later an article emerged about a line of Wire Fox Terriers with hunting ability which must have made it OK to cross Jack Russells with them. The resulting prey drive was not for modern day England but not to worry it found a home in the Outback.. So now Americans in the JRTCA are being reprogrammed to accept the curls of the latest design. It is funny because the Victorian Wire Fox Terrier and Smooth Fox diverged as two distinct breeds while Jack Russells had a broken or rough coated straight shaft terrier coat with a smooth recessive totally the same breed. Now with the new wooly Jack who knows how smooth the smooth recessive will be. They may have to diverge once again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Jackal
Have a look at the link…simmilar to what we were thinking..jackals could have helped create some dogs not all…
This animal used to be subspecies of wolf.
It is probably the result of hybridization with wolves, dogs, and jackals.
Arabian wolves live in the Sinai. I don’t see why they couldn’t also have lived in parts of North Africa until recently, but as they became extinct, they mated with golden jackals and maybe dogs.
That’s what I think this animal is.
I think dogs have affected golden jackals more than jackals have affected dogs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackal-Dog_Hybrid
Have a read of the last section…. again some of the indian dogs do make this alarm call which is simmilar to a jackal..
The stuff about Indian dogs has me intrigued.
However, vocalizations in dogs are partly learned behavior. Wolves that have been kept around dogs will bark. I wonder if dogs that live around jackals will start making jackal sounds.
Then there is the basenji, which makes all sorts of unusual noises. It has been proven to be wolf-derived. It even has the jackal fused toes on its front feet.
I don’t buy that stuff about Pharaoh Hounds, Pharaoh hounds are from Malta and aren’t that old. They are from Malta, not Egypt. It is a flight of fancy to compare this breed to the dogs in the Ancient Egyptian artifacts (for right now anyway):
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2007/5/genetics-and-the-shape-of-dogs/1
No one has performed nuclear DNA studies on Indian pariah dogs. However, Savolainen did have some in his analysis of mtDNA in dogs throughout the world.
Hybrids have occurred. I’m not denying this, but is it enough to count the golden jackal as a major source of dog genes?
I have written a post on the Deeb/Dhib/wucharia: https://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/answer-to-the-wild-dog-question-2/
The same animal lives in Danakil. We once classified it as part of C. lupus, and if we look at its genome, my guess is we’ll find dog and wolf genes in both of them.
One of the problems with the science on wolves is it is very Eurocentric. All comparisons to dogs are made to the big game hunting wolves we have in the northern parts of North America. No one seems to realize that these animals are quite specialized. They are adapted to living in very cold areas and for hunting big game.
There is also a study that contends the Indian and Himalayan wolves are separate species. I’m very skeptical. I think these animals are very much like the black-backed jackals of East Africa. And I think they don’t really have a handle on how genetically and phenotypically diverse C. lupus was before we began domesticating them and then persecuting those who weren’t domesticated.
Azawakh make a huge number of weird, un-dog-like vocalizations. One of mine makes a noise like a zebra. Salukis also vocalize a lot, a lot of them will talk to you. Salukis are also well known for preferring their own kind as a mate. Neither of these dogs are derived from Jackals.
Oh and this is nonsense, too.
“Reginald Innes Pocock proposed that dog/jackal hybridisation was the reason why jackal coursing in Sri Lanka was ineffective, as most hunting dogs there would refuse to attack jackals, which they likely viewed as a member of their own species.”
Coursing Jackals with dogs is quite common in N. Africa. Dogs must learn to take dangerous game, just as wolves learn to hunt large animals like Moose. A refusal does not meant they recognize then as fellow dogs. Bit of romanticism, there.
The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) had to come from “somewhere” and it makes perfect sense that at one time there were wolves or something similar to C. Simensis in Egypt. whether these were more like Canis lupus Arabs, the Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), or more like the Canis aureus (Golden jackal) or some hybrid of these is a good question. I see no reason why there wasn’t something along the same lines in Egypt, especially as this area was once much more fertile than it’s present nature.
Peggy Richter.
And then throw in a controversial canid like the Red Wolf to really confuse things! Red Wolves and Ethiopian Wolves remind me a lot of each other in some ways. Red Wolves a possible(I think likely) naturally occurring hybrid between Wolves and Coyotes, and Ethiopian Wolves rumored to be possible Wolf X Jackal hybrids(?)–it would not be suprising if such crosses were similar in some ways. Although I have no problem accepting the mostly-wolf-origin for dogs, I think we still have much to learn about canid origins and potential hybridization. All this surety of the DNA testing I have my doubts about–I don’t know enough about DNA stuff to make qualified statements, but I have observed scientists for many years(my own personal primate subspecies study), and can tell you they make mistakes all the time, and ain’t nuthin” ever FOR SURE! Scientists are also quite political creatures, and in promoting their theories and ideas, some of them are not averse to squeaking the data a bit now and then(I’m not about to mention any names here…). I heard so many DEFINITE DNA results involving Red Wolves, that it is comical–“Red Wolves are Coyote/Wolf hybrids; Red Wolves are the ANCESTORS of BOTH coyotes and wolves, Red Wolves are an offshoot of wolves OR a subspecies of Coyote, OR part dog”; and on and on. If someone has some pretty plausible evidence that dogs and jackals interbreed naturally at times, then despite all the DNA “evidence”, I think it needs to be taken into consideration. Also, Retrieverman, I never heard before that Coyote/Dog crosses are infertile after the 3rd generation–that just makes no sense to me. Why dogs have not totally swamped Wolf and Coyote genes over the centuries is because of different heat cycles between wild Wolves/Coyotes and domestic dogs and hybrids(which often have a more “doggy” cycle–i.e. twice a year and not in sync with the seasons–a very maladaptive trait for survival in Northern climes with harsh Winters) which makes it very difficult to synchronize naturally except for the odd incident, and then there are all manner of other environmental/behavioural things that can get in the way, too, but infertility between them isn’t an issue(well, as far as I ever knew before!)….
I just saw the study yesterday on coydogs and dog/jackals losing their fertility as hybrids are bred to hybrids after three generations. There are two separate studies.
The Ethiopian wolf is marked too differently to be a hybrid. It has very unique markings that don’t exist in either species.
However, the Egyptian jackal/Egyptian wolf and the wucharia of the Danakil might be result of hybridization between some ancient North African wolves and the golden jackal.
The thing to look at is how similar Arabian, Indian, and red wolves are. It’s really remarkable. These are probably the older subspecies of C. lupus.
I am not a believer of the theory that the red wolf is the ancient canid from which all wolves and coyotes descend.
Here’s a good paper to get some understanding of the evolution of wolves in North America:
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/574.1
http://www.danthompsongamecalls.com/hunting-info/about-coyotes
I am not a believer(so far) of the Red Wolf being ancestral to both Wolves and Coyotes either, but that is an excellent example of just how different these DNA test results can be, and how interpretation just might be politically influenced–at that time, there was a lot of opposition to reestablishing a population of Red Wolves in the wild, and politicians against it jumped on the hybrid bandwagon because of the publics’ usual negativity to anything hybridized(i. e. not “purebred” therefore not worthy of preserving), regardless of the fact that if true, Red Wolves are still a natural hybrid that seem to fill a niche suited to their particular abilities. So then this study appears where the DNA evidence suggests Red Wolves were indeed the original North American canines, older than Wolves or Coyotes! And of course this theory was touted by the pro-release Red Wolf camp. Whatever they are, I feel they are worthy of preserving, and certainly useful in trying to decipher(or will be one day, perhaps) this dog/wolf/coyote/jackal debate. And they can survive and be released in areas that would be unlikely or impossible for “regular” Wolves. Except, of course, they still continually and readily breed with coyotes(and coyotes are everywhere in North America now) in the wild, therefore diluting their genes further…..so much for our human notions of “species”!
My guess is that they are a subspecies of wolf.
You’ll not that word “gray wolf” are never used on this blog for a reason, unless we’re talking about a wolf that actually is gray.
Yeah, “gray” wolf and “red” wolf are both awkward and inaccurate terms. I remember once at the Nature Center in Asheville, N. C., where they had three “gray” wolves(as they were listed on their exhibit sign) that were all three black(at least while they were still young), and I saw/heard one visitor who became IRATE that they were calling black wolves “gray” wolves! I tried to explain to him that it was simply a species name, and not necessarily related to their actual color, but he was having none of it!
The red wolf’s original scientific name was Canis niger because the first ones documented were melanistic.
It’s too bad that the black color phase of the red wolf is extinct, especially in light of the studies that suggest the black color in North American timber wolves derives from dogs. I wonder if there are any museum specimens, etc. of “Canis niger” that could provide DNA for testing?
But wolf, coyote, jackal, and dog are all names we apply to them. It’s like retriever, spaniel, hound, terrier: if it’s categorized by us, does it mean it should absolutely fit the category?
As far as DNA: scientists label DNA as proving this or that. But that’s working backward.
When I freeze semen from one of my stud dogs, the AKC requires a DNA test. BUT getting a DNA test on one of my stud dogs proves nothing if all of his ancestors did not have DNA tests. For a DNA test on any stud dog to prove anything, DNA would have had to be taken from all of his ancestors. ALL OF THEM.
And then what would the DNA prove? That he is a dog as we currently categorize DNA? But, at what point in his ancestral tree, would his DNA not be a dog?
As far as incentive to breed, I believe it was Peggy Grayson writing about field spaniels (though it may have been Sussex spaniels) talking about how the male spaniel wasn’t keen on breeding. I believe it was called something like “funny toil” or “difficult toil”. Some so-called domestic dog breeds have difficulty with breeding while other dogs hump the knees of humans.
As far as domestication of jackals, does anyone think if there were three generations of Golden Retrievers somehow produced and raised in the wild without human contact, and ditto three generations of Coon hounds, that they would somehow assimilate into being pets of humans at the same rate even though they are both categorized by us as dogs?
I don’t think DNA is enough evidence to divide into jackals, dogs, wolves, etc., because we ourselves are placing the limits or definition of what is what without taking into context environmental/living factors. I’m pretty sure if I spent some time on it, I could domesticate some of the pups in the coyote litter in the next forty over. If I threw down some trashy yet raw meat, I could get those pups following me back to my house.
The problem I see when many people consider how dogs got domesticated is most folks don’t look at the luring of dogs as human foodstuff was a beginning of the relationship.
Dogs and jackals and wolves and coyotes are not all created equal.
If one person trains a dog via an e-collar, and another person trains another dog for the same task using only clickers and treats, is it because of the DNA of the individual dogs or because of the adaptation of the individual dogs to environment? Would one dog be considered more of a “dog” or would it be the other? In the end, does the DNA of the animal rule or is it the environment?
Sometimes folks brag about their terrier who digs and digs and digs as opposed to “that show terrier” who doesn’t dig. But, if DNA defines what an animal is, then wouldn’t the two terriers dig the same?
If DNA defines all of us and defines what species or category we are and what we will behave like, why am I not a billionaire like Warren Buffett or Bill Gates? According to DNA, I’m a human, so why don’t I act, look like, or think exactly like the human next to me?
I’m still confused about how working back on DNA is going to help modern dogs deal with cars, and staying home locked up in crates or kennels for most of the day, or getting heaps of food piled up in a dish when they still have instincts to go out and search and find food, and how getting dressed up in a costume is somehow gratifying, or whether part of the increasing health issues in dogs is because they are, for the most part, limited to a life of boredom, non-exercise, and basic drain brain?
brilliant article and comments retrieverman-Anthimos Kiouppis-i would think that the change in jack russels was caused by the breeding practices of Ken gould whose dogs were later registered with the kenterfox prfefix..The whitebodied terriers were almost a landrace in ireland and england -though the older variations seem to be getting rarer as they seem to be diverging into stumpy legged toydogs and p[arson types
About 25 years ago I remember a televised (SABC) incident of hybrid Jackal/dog puppies in South Africa, that the South African wildlife services captured and killed should dog genes enter into the wild jackal population. There must be something on this incident somewhere in the SA media records. If my memory serves me correctly the mother to these puppies was a dog.
I have not seen an authenticated dog/black-backed jackal cross anywhere in the literature. I have seen golden jackal/dog crosses not only authenticated but actively produced in Russia as sniffer dogs.
The term “jackal” is actually quite meaningless. The two Africa-only jackals (black-backed and side-striped) are very genetically distinct and quite divergent from golden jackals, which are basically coyotes of the Old World that have been been found to cross with wolves Bulgaria and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, just as coyotes do in North America.