# How many species of dogs are there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480 "2020-08-31T21:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/1 "2020-08-31T21:51:29Z")
Apparently, there are 38 species of cats including domestic cats, cheetahs, lions, and so forth. How many species (not breeds) of dogs are there, including wolves, domestic dogs, foxes, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/2 "2020-08-31T21:59:16Z")
Just going by Wikipedia, I count 39 extant species of [Felidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felidae) and 34 of [Caninae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caninae). Edited to add: perhaps a better comparison would be with Canidae, but all non Caninae members of it are extinct. How one labels large clades can be rather arbitrary (family vs sub-family, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/3 "2020-08-31T22:00:56Z")
This claims to be up to date with the latest generally accepted changes based on molecular phylogeny. It claims in one place that _Caninae_ contains 37 species, and in another place says 35 species. > **[List of canids | Canids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_canids#Canids)** > > The following classification is based on the taxonomy described by Mammal Species of the World (2005), with augmentation by generally accepted proposals made since using molecular phylogenetic analysis, such as the promotion of the African golden wolf to a separate species from the golden jackal, and splitting out the Lupulella genus from Canis. Range maps are based on IUCN range data. There are several additional proposals which are disputed, such as the promotion of the red wolf and eastern wol... ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/4 "2020-09-01T16:31:37Z")
I looked through that list of canids and all it made me do was want a bunch of pet foxes. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/5 "2020-09-01T17:54:22Z")
Who could resist those ears? [![](https://www.thesprucepets.com/thmb/qjVewc6TQA1N-w-kJMyO1ETzASE=/960x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/fennec-fox-85120553-57ffe0d85f9b5805c2b03554.jpg) ](https://www.thesprucepets.com/thmb/qjVewc6TQA1N-w-kJMyO1ETzASE=/960x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/fennec-fox-85120553-57ffe0d85f9b5805c2b03554.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/6 "2020-09-01T18:06:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > How many species (not breeds) of dogs are there, including wolves, domestic dogs, foxes, etc.? I thought this odd, so I looked it up. Actually, “Dog” is a species. That’s it, “Dog”. So there is one species of “Dog”. > According to their own figures, the American Kennel Club recognizes 202 dog breeds, The Kennel Club recognizes 211 dog breeds, and the Fédération Cynologique Internationale currently recognizes **344 breeds** officially. However, all dog breeds belong to the same species and taxon, the Canis lupus familiaris. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/7 "2020-09-01T19:05:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > including wolves, domestic dogs, foxes, etc.? Domestic dogs are now generally considered the same species as gray wolves (_Canis lupus_), although Linnaeus considered them a different species. Domestic dogs are a subspecies of wolf according to Wozencraft. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/8 "2020-09-01T21:57:18Z")
It’s standard nowadays to consider all domesticated animals to be a subspecies of their closest wild relative. So dogs are no longer Canis familiaris, but Canis lupus familiaris, and cats are no longer Felix domesticus, but Felix sylvestris domesticus. This holds even in cases, like cows, where the wild form is extinct: Bos aurochs taurus is a subspecies (the only remaining subspecies) of Bos aurochs. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/9 "2020-09-01T22:00:05Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I thought this odd, so I looked it up. Actually, “Dog” is a species. That’s it, “Dog”. So there is one species of “Dog”. Several wild canid species are called “dogs,” including Bush Dog, Short-eared Dog, African Bush Dog, and Raccoon Dog. In fact, there are almost as many wild “dogs” as there are “wolves.” As has been pointed out, at present domestic dogs are presently considered to be part of the same species as the Gray Wolf _Canis lupus_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/10 "2020-09-01T22:02:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Felix domesticus, but Felix sylvestris domesticus. To nitpick, the genus of the domestic cat is _Felis._ [Felix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_the_Cat) is just the best-known _Felis._ ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/11 "2020-09-01T22:26:32Z")
Sylvester would like to have a word with you. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/12 "2020-09-01T23:18:48Z")
My genetics & taxonomy & stuff is pretty thin…but is it an indicator that 2 species aren’t really distinct if they can interbreed and produce fertile young? So I think it’s known that dogs & wolves can do so – can dogs & coyotes? Wolves & coyotes? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/13 "2020-09-01T23:31:34Z")
Perusing the wiki article on canids, and didn’t see any mention of dingos. It turns out that they’re _Canis familiaris dingo_, or _Canis lupus dingo_. So apparently they’re domestic dogs gone wild. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/14 "2020-09-02T00:15:32Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > My genetics & taxonomy & stuff is pretty thin…but is it an indicator that 2 species aren’t really distinct if they can interbreed and produce fertile young? This is a very common misconception. Many species can produce completely fertile hybrids. The criterion is whether they produce hybrids frequently enough to lose their species identity. Gray Wolves and Coyotes produce fertile hybrids, but although their ranges overlap over much or western North America they maintain their separate identities. > [@](#): > > So I think it’s known that dogs & wolves can do so – can dogs & coyotes? Wolves & coyotes? [Coydogs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coydog) are fairly common in some areas, especially where Coyotes are expanding their range. Regarding wolves and Coyotes, it is believed that both the [Eastern Wolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_wolf) and [Red Wolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_wolf) to some extent represent hybridization events between Gray Wolves and Coyotes. Exactly what their species status should be is controversial. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/15 "2020-09-02T00:25:42Z")
Yup, there are no placental mammals native to Australia. The only ones found there are humans, and the ones we brought with us, like dogs and rabbits. Dingo-like dogs, descended from domesticated dogs gone feral, are found in many parts of the world. And the definition of “species” being based on what animals actually do in the wild is the reason why all domesticated animals are considered subspecies: Once they’re domesticated, you lose the whole concept of “what they do in the wild”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/16 "2020-09-02T00:44:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yup, there are no placental mammals native to Australia. That’s another common misconception. There are a lot of rodents as well as bats, both placentals, that are native to Australia. It is often assumed that the dingo arrived with the aborigines, but fossils only date to about 3,500 years ago, long after the aborigines came. They probably came with seafarers from southeast Asia. They belong to a group of primitive feral dogs including the [New Guinea Singing Dog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guinea_singing_dog), the [Indian Pariah Dog,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_pariah_dog), and the [North American Carolina Dog.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Dog). Interestingly, feral dog populations in other parts of the world tend to converge on this “Yellow Dog” phenotype. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/17 "2020-09-02T04:24:47Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Perusing the wiki article on canids, and didn’t see any mention of dingos. It turns out that they’re _Canis familiaris dingo_ , or _Canis lupus dingo_ . That’s interesting. Dogs are the domesticated descendants of wolves so I would have assumed that if they went feral their descendants would revert back to wolves. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/18 "2020-09-02T04:48:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Dogs are the domesticated descendants of wolves so I would have assumed that if they went feral their descendants would revert back to wolves. Are even first-generation feral dogs that much different from wolves in behavior? Excluding physically ridiculous breeds, I’m not sure they’re very different. But there’s two reasons why they might not revert to be _exactly_ like wolves. First, their starting point is a phenotype that’s very different from wolves through artificial selection; and it’s possible that inbreeding has removed the genetic diversity that would allow the phenotype to revert easily to something resembling a wolf. Evolutionary change can happen much more rapidly when selection is working on existing genetic diversity in a population; if you have to wait for new mutations to arise, it takes orders of magnitude longer. Second, I think the environment in most of Australia is different from where wolves typically live. So the selection pressure to revert to a more wolf-like phenotype may not be present, they may settle into a slightly different niche. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/19 "2020-09-02T04:55:21Z")
Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t disputing the point. It’s just something that I had never thought about before. I assumed that if human intervention disappeared, domesticated species would revert back to the wild ancestors or go extinct. I hadn’t realized that we changed the animals we domesticated enough that they couldn’t revert back to their ancestral species. So when we take a wild species and domesticate it, we’re creating the potential for a new wild species. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480/20 "2020-09-02T05:03:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s interesting. Dogs are the domesticated descendants of wolves so I would have assumed that if they went feral their descendants would revert back to wolves. It is thought that dogs are descended from a subspecies or closely related species of Gray Wolf that is now extinct. That form may not have strongly resembled modern Gray Wolves. The [Indian subspecies](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nIyekCkIq7s/maxresdefault.jpg) of Gray Wolf can be a bit yellowish, for example The ancestor of the dog could have been a small yellowish Asian form resembling these primitive dogs. Figuring out the ancestry of the domestic dog is particularly difficult because there have been repeated backcrosses with Gray Wolves. Dogs also have been bred to have paedomorphic traits, that is, in many ways they resemble the juveniles of Gray Wolves. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-species-of-dogs-are-there/919480.md?page=2)