Wolf-dog hybrids buck the trend Dogs and wolves are the same species - Canis lupus - and can hybridize easily. Populations of wolves are declining in many places around the world, and there is increasing concern that where wolves live near humans and their dogs, hybridization will deleteriously affect the genome of the wild wolf populations. Hybridization invariably involves a female wolf and a male dog. By analyzing the Y chromosome, which is inherited only from the father, and mitochondrial DNA (which is inherited only from the mother), scientists have now found evidence for the first time of mating between male wolves and female dogs. (PLoS ONE 7(10): e46465) | The nose knows: twins can't fool a dog Having an identical twin that you can blame misdeeds on might fool your mother, but not a dog. German Shepherd dogs trained in scent discrimination by the Czech Republic police force can reliably distinguish between identical twins. It is thought that the ability to tell individuals apart by odor, and even to recognize kin, was related to the genes for the immune system, called Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). But even though identical twins have identical MHC genes, dogs can still tell them apart. What the dogs are able to detect is anybody's guess. (PLoS ONE 6(6): e20704) |
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