[ SHOWGSD-L ] DOG AND WOLF CLASSIFICATION

From: "Doc Zoe" <wynsum@xxxxxxx>
To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2010 11:56:07 -0400
According to Walker's Mammals of the World, the genus and species for wolves 
are Canis lupus, for 
domestic dogs Canis familiaris, and for dingoes Canis familiaris dingo. You can 
also find domestic dogs 
referenced in other sources as Canis lupus familiaris. Whether domestic dogs 
and wolves should be in 
the same species is a matter of how you want to apply the definition of a 
species; yes, they can breed 
with each other, but only in certain circumstances and almost never in nature. 
Lions and tigers can mate 
with each other, but they're still considered to be different species. Once you 
start with subspecies, it's 
much more contentious. Rather than using the species designations, it may be 
better to answer your 
question by looking at the history of dogs. They definitely arose by 
domestication from gray wolves at 
least 12 000 years ago. Dingoes are most likely semi-domesticated dogs that 
wandered off and formed 
wild packs. If this is true, then domesticated dogs and dingoes are more 
closely related to each other 
than to wolves. Whether a species has become domesticated or not doesn't make a 
difference as to 
what it's related to. What matters is when that species and another species 
were last part of the same 
breeding population. In this case, domestic dogs and dingoes were part of the 
same population after that 
population separated from wolves, and so are more closely related to each 
other. Nowak, RM. 1999. 
Walker's Mammals of the World, Volume 1. Johns Hopkins University Press, 
Baltimore. ISBN 0-8018-
5789-9  

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[ SHOWGSD-L ] DOG AND WOLF CLASSIFICATION

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