50 years after New Guinea song dogs were believed to have become extinct in the wild, the rocky slopes of Papua New Guinea seem to have heard their sounds again. A new genetic analysis suggests that this ancient breed of wild dog still thrives deep in the Indonesian wilderness.
This canine species native to Papua New Guinea stands out for having unique harmonic howls (similar to the song of whales). While a couple of hundred individuals can be found in captivity, most scientists had assumed that the population had disappeared from the wild since the 1970s.
Now, thanks to observations of Highland Wild Dogs in Papua New Guinea, scientists used DNA-based evidence to probe the ancestral relationship between highland wild dogs and captive New Guinea song dogs, finding that both dogs they are extremely related members of the canine species Canis lupus familiaris. They are the same breed , which means that the New Guinea Singing Dog never became extinct.
“We found that New Guinea song dogs and wild highland dogs have very similar genomic sequences, much closer to each other than any other known canid. In the tree of life, this makes them much more related to each other. than modern breeds like German shepherd or bassett hound, “said Heidi Parker, a scientist at the National Human Genome Research Institute who led the genomic analysis.
The new discovery could aid in the conservation of this unique breed of wild dog affected by inbreeding in those held in captivity.
Referencia: New Guinea highland wild dogs are the original New Guinea singing dogs. Suriani Surbakti, Heidi G. Parker, James K. McIntyre, Hendra K. Maury, Kylie M. Cairns, Meagan Selvig, Margaretha Pangau-Adam, Apolo Safonpo, Leonardo Numberi, Dirk Y. P. Runtuboi, Brian W. Davis, and Elaine A. Ostrander PNAS first published August 31, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2007242117
