Africanis | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Other names | African dog mūtina dog Khoekhoe dog Xhosa dog Tswana dog Sotho dog Zulu Dog Katali Mukehe Bobby | ||||||||||||||||||||
Origin | Southern Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Dog ( domestic dog ) |
The Africanis is a dog landrace found across southern Africa. [1] It is a medium-sized, short-coated dog, with a distinctive black patch on the outside of the tail.
As is typical with landraces, there are several regional variations, believed to be the result of isolation and, to a limited degree, deliberate breeding. [2] [3] Some modern writers describe the Africanis as a pariah dog. 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. [2]
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, a terrier and a dingo. [2] [3] It can be found in almost any colour or combination of colours, although fawns, browns, brindles and blacks with various white markings are common. [2] [3] A distinctive, possibly primitive, feature is a black patch found high on the outside of the tail where the caudal gland is found in the wild wolf. [3]
The Africanis usually stands between 50 and 62 centimetres (20 and 24 in). Being a landrace, minor variations in appearance may be common. The Africanis is nonetheless known to breed true to a recognisable form. [3]
Africa's indigenous dogs may be descended from ancient Egyptian dogs found throughout the Nile Delta around 5,900 years ago. [note 1] It is believed the descendants of these dogs spread throughout Africa with tribal movements, first throughout the Sahara and finally reaching southern Africa around the 6th century AD. [note 2] [2] [3]
The Africanis has almost always been attached to human settlements 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. [2] [3] The Africanis has been known by a number of names. These include the Bantu dog, Kasi dog, umbwa wa ki-tamaduni ("traditional dog" in Kiswahili), the Khoekhoe dog, the Tswana dog and the Zulu dog. Other local names include Sica, Isiqha, Ixhalaga, Ixalagha, Isigola, I-Twina and Itiwina. [3]
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 was in India. [2]
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. [3] [6] In South Africa, a society was established in 1998 to preserve the Africanis, the Africanis Society of Southern Africa. [3] [6] [7]
The name Africanis is a portmanteau of the words "Africa" and "canis". [8]
The dingo is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scientific names presently applied in different publications. It is variously considered a form of domestic dog not warranting recognition as a subspecies, a subspecies of dog or wolf, or a full species in its own right.
The dire wolf is an extinct canine. The dire wolf lived in the Americas during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs. The species was named in 1858, four years after the first specimen had been found. Two subspecies are recognized: Aenocyon dirus guildayi and Aenocyon dirus dirus. The largest collection of its fossils has been obtained from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
A mongrel, mutt, or mixed-breed dog is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized breed, including those that result from intentional breeding. Although the term mixed-breed dog is sometimes preferred, many mongrels have no known purebred ancestors.
The New Guinea singing dog or New Guinea Highland dog is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog found in the New Guinea Highlands, on the island of New Guinea. Once considered to be a separate species in its own right, under the name Canis hallstromi, it is closely related to the Australian dingo. The dog is relatively unusual among canines; it is one of the few to be considered "barkless", and is known for the unusual "yodel"-like style of vocalizing that gives it its name.
The Carolina dog, also known as a yellow dog, yaller dog, American dingo, or Dixie dingo, is a breed of medium-sized dog occasionally found feral in the Southeastern United States, especially in isolated stretches of longleaf pines and cypress swamps. Efforts to establish them as a standardized breed have gained the Carolina Dog breed recognition in two smaller kennel clubs and full acceptance into the breed-establishment program of one major kennel club.
The domestication of vertebrates is the mutual relationship between vertebrate animals including birds and mammals, and the humans who have influence on their care and reproduction.
The domestication of the dog was the process which led to the domestic dog. This included the dog's genetic divergence from the wolf, its domestication, and the emergence of the first dogs. Genetic studies suggest that all ancient and modern dogs share a common ancestry and descended from an ancient, now-extinct wolf population – or closely related wolf populations – which was distinct from the modern wolf lineage. The dog's similarity to the grey wolf is the result of substantial dog-into-wolf gene flow, with the modern grey wolf being the dog's nearest living relative. An extinct Late Pleistocene wolf may have been the ancestor of the dog.
The Japanese wolf, also known as the Honshū wolf, is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once endemic to the islands of Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū in the Japanese archipelago.
The Sinhala Hound is a landrace of dog from Sri Lanka.
Egypt has a long and involved demographic history. This is partly due to the territory's geographical location at the crossroads of several major cultural areas: North Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, Egypt has experienced several invasions and being part of many regional empires during its long history, including by the Canaanites, the Ancient Libyans, the Assyrians, the Kushites, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabs.
In the taxonomic treatment presented in the third (2005) edition of Mammal Species of the World, Canis lupus dingo is a taxonomic rank that includes both the dingo that is native to Australia and the New Guinea singing dog that is native to the New Guinea Highlands. It also includes some extinct dogs that were once found in coastal Papua New Guinea and the island of Java in the Indonesian Archipelago. In this treatment it is a subspecies of Canis lupus, the wolf, although other treatments consider the dog as a full species, with the dingo and its relatives either as a subspecies of the dog, a species in its own right, or simply as an unnamed variant or genetic clade within the larger population of dogs. The genetic evidence indicates that the dingo clade originated from East Asian domestic dogs and was introduced through the Malay Archipelago into Australia, with a common ancestry between the Australian dingo and the New Guinea singing dog. The New Guinea singing dog is genetically closer to those dingoes that live in southeastern Australia than to those that live in the northwest.
The Indian pariah dog, also known as the Indian native dog, INDog, Nadan,South Asian pye dog, Desi Kutta, and Neri 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 trainable and often used as a guard dog and police dog. This dog is an example of an ancient group of dog known as pye-dogs. There is archaeological evidence that the dog was present in Indian villages as early as 4,500 years ago.
Tesem was the ancient Egyptian name for "hunting dog". In popular literature it denotes the prick-eared, leggy dog with a curled tail from the early Egyptian age, but it was also used with reference to the lop-eared "Saluki/Sloughi" type. It was one of several types of dogs in Ancient Egypt; particularly the latter Saluki/Sloughi type of Tesem, having the appearance most similar to that of a true sighthound.
African village dogs are dogs found in Africa that are directly descended from an ancestral pool of indigenous dogs. African village dogs became the close companion of people in Africa, beginning in North Africa and spreading south.
The Pleistocene wolf, also referred to as the Late Pleistocene wolf, is an extinct lineage or ecomorph of the grey wolf. It was a Late Pleistocene 129 Ka – early Holocene 11 Ka hypercarnivore. While comparable in size to a large modern grey wolf, it possessed a shorter, broader palate with large carnassial teeth relative to its overall skull size, allowing it to prey and scavenge on Pleistocene megafauna. Such an adaptation is an example of phenotypic plasticity. It was once distributed across the northern Holarctic. Phylogenetic evidence indicates that despite being much smaller than this prehistoric wolf, the Japanese wolf, which went extinct in the early 20th century, was of a Pleistocene wolf lineage, thus extending its survival to several millennia after its previous estimated extinction around 7,500 years ago.
The cave wolf is an extinct glacial mammoth steppe-adapted white wolf that lived during the Middle Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene. It inhabited Europe, where its remains have been found in many caves. Its habitat included the mammoth steppe grasslands and boreal needle forests. This large wolf was short-legged compared to its body size, yet its leg size is comparable with that of the Arctic wolf C. l. arctos. Mitochondrial DNA analysis shows it to be more closely related to the domestic dog than the modern wolf, indicating possible ancestry.
The Paleolithic dog was a Late Pleistocene canine. They were directly associated with human hunting camps in Europe over 30,000 years ago and it is proposed that these were domesticated. They are further proposed to be either a proto-dog and the ancestor of the domestic dog or an extinct, morphologically and genetically divergent wolf population.
The evolution of the wolf occurred over a geologic time scale of at least 300 thousand years. The grey wolf Canis lupus is a highly adaptable species that is able to exist in a range of environments and which possesses a wide distribution across the Holarctic. Studies of modern grey wolves have identified distinct sub-populations that live in close proximity to each other. This variation in sub-populations is closely linked to differences in habitat – precipitation, temperature, vegetation, and prey specialization – which affect cranio-dental plasticity.
The Polynesian Dog refers to a few extinct varieties of domesticated dogs from the islands of Polynesia. These dogs were used for both companionship and food and were introduced alongside poultry and pigs to various islands. They became extinct as a result of the crossbreeding that occurred after European breeds of dogs were introduced. Modern studies done on the DNA of the Polynesian dogs indicate that they descended from the domesticated dogs of Southeast Asia and may have shared a remote ancestor with the dingo.
A hunting dog is a canine that hunts with or for humans.