Mitochondrial DNA is different from the DNA most of us think about. It is outside the nucleus in the mitochondria. It’s not the “what color eyes will I have” DNA.
In this discussion, the interesting thing about mtDNA is that it comes exclusively from the mother, and mutates fairly rapidly. Those attributes have lead to mtDNA being used to try to estimate the time involved since 2 organisms had a common matrilinear ancestor.
In short, saying that dogs and wolves vary by just 0.2% in their mitochondrial DNA means that it wasn’t that long ago that they had a common ancestry. It doesn’t say a whole lot about how similar they are today. The seven daughters of Eve is an interesting read, if you can skip the story telling/humanizing parts of each section.
If you do try to keep one, and it is legal in your parts, I would strongly reccomend getting professional help training them to be released into the wild.
There was a study in Russia (I think) where they bred foxes for a few generations. The study is 40 or so years old, and I think they believe they have made a population of “domestic” foxes. So, it doesn’t seem to take thousands of years, but it definitely takes some time and very selective breeding.
No, they are not genetically identical. Dogs are considered to be the same species as wolves, but that is true of all domesticated animals (that they are considered to be the same species as the wild animals from which they derive). Dogs and wolves are interfertile, but so are all members of the genus Canis. Most importantly, dogs exhibit some behaviors that wolves do not, so it would be incorrect to assume that a wolf, even if raised by humans from birth, would behave in the same way as a dog.
Wolves can be handled as pets, but only by very dedicated owners who understand how wolves act and react and communicate. And still you have to get used to the fact that they will likely tear up your house anyway. But as long as you are firm and in control, and they never feel like they need to challenge you, you can be okay.
As to whether a hybrid may be worse than a full wolf, I’d say that the jury is out. For all you know, Shag, the guy may have trained aggression into the hybrid. It also, unlike the two wolves, simply not have understood the hierarchy in this new group it was being introduced into, and so it made a power play. That sort of thing can happen even with full dogs.
In general, I think most wolf owners really know what they are getting into. Hybrid owners might not, or might even be into the idea BECAUSE they think the dog will be extra tough and aggressive.
I know this is GD but I hope my anecdote is relevant, and I hope also to gain insight into how true the story I heard might have been.
A fellow I met (a bit odd in a number of ways, but he seems to know his animals) was telling me about his red nose pit bull. He told me that there’s only two dogs that can kill a red nose pit bull (I don’t know if he meant all pit bulls, I can’t see how red noses are unique in this regard unless they’re just known to be bigger): a Rhodesian ridgeback and a timberwolf.
He owned a red nose and a timberwolf. He kept the wolf vegetarian (!!) because he said they turn nasty and wild if fed meat. A neighbour threw the wolf a bone when he wasn’t looking; the wolf ate it and then (I don’t know if this happened right after the meat incident or later on) the wolf turned on the pit bull and nearly severed his head.
So maybe a wolf’s wildness can be affected by its diet?
In any case I won’t be owning one, at least not while my own beloved red nose pit bull is still around.
I’ve heard both, but more pup than cub. Wikipedia, FWIW, says pup
I’ve met and known several wolves and wolf hybrids.
Their temperaments ran the gamut. Most were pretty mellow, but did things like gently take your arm in their mouths as a greeting.
One hybrid had to be put to sleep. She was not a dog, she was not a wolf, she was very confused, unhappy, and never could be house-trained.
I love wolves and wolf/dog hybrids, but I don’t think I’d own one because they’re just too much trouble. They do have very strong pack instinct and they’re genetically programmed to try to better their place in the pack–nothing personal, mind you, but alphas eat better and get to breed, so that’s where every wolf really wants to be.
One huge difference between wolves and dogs is in body language. My malemute is a more “wolfy” type dog than my border/jack cross and their respective body language really shows the differences. The malemute only looks me in the eye fleetingly, and the only time she’ll stare right into a human’s face is if she’s pissed or challenging their authority. The border collie watches my face all the time he’s awake, pretty much, and will stare straight into my eyes for the longest time–it’s a bit disconcerting! Many people find the herding dogs uncomfortable to be around because we know that direct eye contact is an aggressive signal in canids and it makes us nervous. The wolves and hybrids that I’ve known are even spookier about eye contact, and they require only a very short stare from a human to interpret it as aggression and behave accordingly. Wolves respond best to a human who doesn’t look them in the face too much, and who exhibits “play behavior,” as that puts us on the same threat level as a puppy, and gives us a similar level of protectedness from adult aggression and pecking order displays. Unfortunately, this type of behavior is not conducive to making the wolf mind you!
I also find wolves and hybrids are less able to calibrate play nipping to acceptable levels–a dog can be shamed early to calibrate their play nipping so’s not to hurt us, but wolf dogs tend to forget more. This makes playing with them an iffier proposition, and I definitely wouldn’t encourage a child to play with a wolf or hybrid for this reason.
They’re beautiful animals, no doubt about it, but considering the size, strength and relative touchiness of the wolf as compared to the domestic dog I wouldn’t consider them a smart choice for a pet. They’re much too good at being wolves to allow them to make good dogs, y’know?
I hope not to reopen old wounds, and only 2 other dopers will have any idea what I’m talking about, so I hope they don’t see this.
Woofs can be great animals but, and this is just anecdotal, a divorce can really screw one up. Losing “dad” might cause a dog to be depressed or difficult to work with, but a wolf could try to take the alpha role.
He was fairly emotionally stunted, kind of acted like a big puppy, until his pack broke apart.
I wouldn’t have been afraid for children around him, he would (I suspect) have viewed them as children and no threat. No more dangerous if raised by responsible people than any other huge damn dog.
YMMV, IANAwhatever, offer void in San Salvador, etc, et al, ad nauseum.
Dogs and wolves are omnivores based on a loose definition. Most dry dog food is grain based and wolves can eat that just fine. It may not be the best thing, but they can survive and be rather healthy on a grain based diet. It is cats that don’t do worth a damn as vegetarians.
This is called neoteny or pedomorphosis (depending on the type and development level of the characteristic in question) and is an essential characteristic of nearly all domesticated animals.
This is an classic example of a statistical fallacy; as has been alraedy pointed out, the population of wolf and wolf hybrids is a fraction of a percent of all domestically-kept canids, so a direct comparison between wolf and dog maulings is misleading.
I have an anecdotal data point, however, in contradiction to your line of reasoning: I used to work with a woman who owned a timberwolf, and it could be very aggressive toward people it didn’t like, particularly strange men (though curiously it ignored me). In general, one would expect wolves and other non-domesticated animals of the same or adjacent species to be more prone to revert to feral or instinctive behaviors than their domesticated counterparts. A hand-raised wolf pup would be better socialized, but also more likely than a dog (of a breed not bred for violence and equivilently socialized) to revert to atavisitc behavior. It would probably be more suspicious or wary of other people, and more likely to imprint on the owner/handler. Think of the behavior of a chow chow (which is considered to be one of the more primitive breeds) than a Labrador Retriever.
The coyote ([Canis latrans](Canis latrans)) is a seperate (though adjacent) species to Canis lupis. At least partially viable hybridization can occur, and it seems likely that at least some populations of coyote can interbreed successfully with various North American wolves genetically, although their social mating behavior is significantly different from that of wolves, generally precluding natural interspecies breeding. (Domestic dogs are typically much more amenable to variations in mating behavior–one might say that they are lovers rather than fighters–and so it isn’t surprising that natural dog-coyote hybrids do occur when populations come into contact.
In the horse world, it’s a fairly common phenomena that rescued wild horses can be trained, and will become incredibly loyal to their human trainer – but only that one human – this does not translate to other humans. They remain quite wary about any other humans. In effect, they become one-person horses.
This is quite unlike normal domesticated breeds of horses. Domestic horse foals are introduced to humans within minutes or hours of birth, and come to accept them as part of the herd. And they will generalize this to acceptance of any human they meet. (With the foals at our farm, you can almost see them thinking: ‘oh goodie, here’s another human to pet me and scratch my back and maybe feed me treats’.)
And this is within the same species; unlike wolves to dogs.
So I would expect that a hand-raised wolf pup might be a very loyal pet to the single human who hand-raised it, but might still act like a wolf to any other human.
Not quite. “Rescued wild horses” are simply domesticated horses that were born in the wild. The better analogy would be feral dogs being reintroduced to human society.
Also, as has already been noted, wolves and dogs are the same species.
What vegetarian food can a wolf eat?