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In 2021, a strange animal appeared at the Wildlife Protection and Rehabilitation Center of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. He had been hit by a car and university technicians cared for him until he recovered. But even then it wasn’t clear to them what animal it was: It was a dog with dark fur and large ears.but he didn’t look like anyone they knew.
And this is not surprising, since until then there was no evidence that this animal existed. Two years later, The DNA showed it was a hybridthat is, an animal born from two individuals of different species: in this case the father was a domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) and the mother was a pampas fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus), a species found in the central zone of southern America .
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A nameless hybrid
DNA analysis revealed genetic markers for both species in this female: she had 76 chromosomes, compared to 78 in dogs and 74 in pampas foxes. So it was a hybrid animal that should be considered a new species, still unnamed. It should be noted that many hybrid animals do not receive scientific nomenclature, but most have a common name: this is the case of the mule, a cross between a mare and a donkey; or the liger, a cross between a lion and a tigress.
Vinicios de Moura
A pampas fox in the wild.
The main characteristic of this animal was not only the first known animal, but also the following Their parents belonged to different taxonomic genera, when hybrids are usually the result of a cross between species of the same genus. The domestic dog belongs to the genus Canis, while foxes form the genus Lycalopex; Both belong to the canid family (Canidae). This hybridization is therefore rare because it occurred between relatively distant species, and the further the parents are genetically distant from each other, the less likely they are to produce viable offspring due to the incompatibility of the genetic material.
There is a second reason that makes this animal so special, and that is that The connection between the parents occurred spontaneously and there was nothing planned. There are numerous examples of spontaneously pregnant hybrid animals, but usually it occurs between subspecies of the same species – for example, bears or crocodiles from different geographical areas – whereas in this case it was a connection between a wild animal such as the fox and a domestic one like the dog.
Courtesy of Flávia Ferrari
The woman during her stay at the conservation center where she was recovering from her injuries.
A fox with a dog character
The animal’s appearance was a mixture of canine and fox features. The body shape was more similar to that of foxes and its large ears are characteristic of this animal. but his face was that of a dog: His eyes were large and round, compared to the slanted eyes of foxes; He also had a rounder muzzle and a larger nose than a fox, giving him the strange appearance of an oversized puppy.
“It was an amazing animal, a real mix between a pampas fox and a dog,” Flávia Ferrari, the conservationist who worked with the female during her recovery, told British newspaper The Telegraph. “He had a shy and cautious personality and generally preferred to stay away from people. I think she felt more confident during her hospital stay for treatment.”
And if we’ve spoken in the past tense so far, it’s unfortunately because The animal died this year for unknown reasons. After her recovery, she was taken to the Mantenedouro Sao Braz Nature Conservation Center in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria. However, its appearance suggests that there could be, at least potentially, more specimens, due to the prevalence of wild dogs in fox habitats.