http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-wolves7-2009feb07,0,6843380.story

i'm sure i'm not the only one with a black GSD who's gotten the 'is that WOLF?' question.

not that GSDs would be the dogs responsible, but interesting that a study has shown that the colouration was apparently introduced into wolves and coyotes by dogs.

i found the actual article in Science:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/205/4

I am personally of the opinion they reached pretty far when coming up with their conclusions in this piece. It also leads the question of which came first? Black dog or black wolf?

The origin of this black mutation could have just as easily come from wolves on the other side of the world into the dog population. It's also possible that it's a regularly occuring natural mutation that happens to express itself the same way in both populations when it alters the same spot in dna.

I wondered that too. Neither article really gives enough background data to show if how far back they traced the marker and if they could definitively point to it being introduced into the wolf population. They could have more data than what was discussed in the articles, I'm not sure.

I also wondered about the 'rare outside North America' thing. It's my understanding that Europeans pretty effectively slaughtered wolves in Europe - I don't really know anything about populations in Asia or Siberia, for instance, but I wasn't sure that was necessarily something that pointed to it being intro'd from dogs vs. a comment on the destruction of other wolf populations.

Still, next time someone asks me if Luc's a wolf, I'm going to tell them that the wolves are just wannabe dogs
(yes, I know that's not actually correct, even if the gene does absolutely come from dogs)

ETA: it'd also be interesting to see how much modern wolf populations are affected by interbreeding. i know some of the populations in ontario have had at least some interbreeding w/coyotes. it'd be interesting to know anyone has tracked wolf populations in terms of interbreeding with other canines. maybe something for me to google tonight....

 Quote: Jennifer Mullen

ETA: it'd also be interesting to see how much modern wolf populations are affected by interbreeding. i know some of the populations in ontario have had at least some interbreeding w/coyotes. it'd be interesting to know anyone has tracked wolf populations in terms of interbreeding with other canines. maybe something for me to google tonight....

I can't point you towards any studies, but a game warden friend of mine told me that interbreeding between wolves and coyotes had effectively created some very large coyotes in the north eastern US. We spoke about it because Oscar and I came across what I thought was a wolf while trail running one day (quite freaked me out, especially since Oscar was off lead :eek - this animal was EASILY Oscar's size, though probably weighed a little less due to a leaner build and more hair. I swore it was a wolf, but my friend told me the chances of it being a bona fide wolf were slim and that it was most likely just a very large coyote. Apparently he's seen these crosses get around 100lbs - that's WAY too big for a traditional coyote (he gets called out to collect bodies when farmers shoot them...), and while some of that could be due to interbreeding with dogs as well, genetic testing often reveals wolf/coyote dna. Interesting stuff...

~Natalya

 Quote: Melissa Thom

It also leads the question of which came first? Black dog or black wolf?

I agree Melissa.

Very interesting though Jennifer -- thanks for posting the articles.

Katie