The Mixture of Wolf and Dog DNA Through Genetic Modification

The rising number of individuals seeking a wolf-dog cross as a pet has led to multiple research studies on wolf-dog behavior. Wolves have a natural urge to avoid human contact, contrarily, dogs desire attention. Mixing of these two organisms has been found to create unpredictable behavioral responses among offspring and may pose a threat to cattle. However, the mixture of wolf and dog genes in the wild is not well studied and the amount of cattle loss due to wolf-dog crosses can only be predicted. Here I evaluate the differences in offspring behavior in a single wolf-dog litter, the amount of cattle loss in the United States, and the dispersal patterns of wolf-dog crosses across Europe and Asia. Evidence of wolves and dogs interbreeding in the wild have been found throughout Europe and Asia posing concern due to the unpredictable behaviors observed between siblings at Mission: Wolf. According to governmental findings, the amount of cattle loss in the United States due to canines provides additional evidence for concern. The combination of all these factors confirms a potential risk to cattle. The apparent variation in behavior among individual wolf-dogs and their ability to travel large distances may lead to livestock loss.

Wolf-dogs are desired by many individuals seeking a pet that possess the personality of a domestic dog but the appearance of a wolf. In the United States, over 250,000 wolf-dogs are born every year (White, 2001). Unfortunately, 80 percent of these “pets” will likely be killed before their third birthday (White, 2001). This is because the mixture of wolf and dog genes results in unpredictable behavioral patterns. The increase in the desire to have a wolf-dog as a pet has opened the door for multiple genetic studies on how the mixture of genes effects behaviors. While it has been found that crossing the two different animals creates a random distribution of behaviors in the offspring, the effects this may have on wolf and dog interactions in the wild is not well known. The presented research focuses on the effects of wolf-dog genes on behavior, their presence in the wild, and on the cattle loss in the United States due to canines.

Cattle loss due to predation of any source sparks concern from conservationist, livestock owners, ranchers, and the general public. When a domesticated animal is killed by a wolf the media will almost always draw attention to the issue. While truly wild wolves tend to stay away from livestock due to the association of the livestock to humans, dogs, on the other hand, are not as afraid to attack livestock (Mech and Boitani, 2010). Crossing wolf and dog DNA can potentially create a wolf that is not afraid to attack livestock as well. This will cause the truly wild wolves to develop a bad reputation. My objective is to show if the mixing of wolf and dog genetic material creates unstable behavioral patterns that may in return increase the amount of cattle loss due to wolves in the United States.

Methods and Materials

The study area of this project, primarily focusing on the behavior of the North American Timber Wolf, is taken from multiple studies done in the United States with an additional study on the genetic material sampled from Eurasian wolves. Overall, one species of wolf, Canis lupus, and the domestic dog, Canis lupus domesticus, are observed. Therefore, the differences in location do not affect the genetic makeup of the two subjects. Additional research on location-based behavioral differences are taken into consideration for this study but are not well known.

In order to understand the behavior of wolf-dog crosses, behavioral data were collected firsthand from Mission: Wolf, a wolf sanctuary located in the Wet mountains of Colorado. The behavior of nine different wolf-dogs was observed. Each wolf-dog has their own distinct personality. The focus was on the personalities of the sanctuary’s pit bull wolves: Buku, Oreo, Batman, and Asia. All four were raised in the same environment and are a cross between a gray, wolf female (“Valley Spirit”) and an American pit bull, eliminating potential breed-related factors allowing for a direct comparison of the individuals’ behaviors. However, a small sample size introduces a sample bias and future studies should include a larger sample population.

For evidence to support my hypothesis, I will use a report taken from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Based on the information from the report, the total cattle loss due to predation from carnivores can be calculated. This publication reports on the death of 3.8 million cattle, equivalent to four percent of all cattle in the United States.

Furthermore, research on the abundance of dog genes in wild wolf populations of Europe and Asia is presented. LAMP, Admixture, and Structure analyses, from author Małgorzata Pilot and colleagues, as well as the analysis of 61,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in canid genomes is compared to the results from dogs to determine amount of wolf-dog admixture and total amount of wolves vs. wolf-dogs in wild populations (Pilot et al., 2018).

Results

The behavior of the pit bull wolves at Mission: Wolf varied by individual. The puppies Buku and Oreo showed no aversion to human presence, characteristic behavior of domestic dogs; However, with increasing maturity, more typical wolf behavior became evident, manifested in barking as a sign of fear in the presence of humans. The other individuals exhibited no repulsion against humans, with Asia and Valley Spirit actively demanding additional attention. This is evidence for case-by-case variation of personality and behavior of wolf-dog individuals and suggests that this may also be the case for wild wolf-dogs.

According to the data collected by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in 2011, which can be seen in Figure 1, carnivore related deaths accounted for 0.2 % of cattle loss corresponding to approximately 216,000 out of 94 million heads of cattle living in the US. Of the 216,000 killed cattle, 3.7 % (8,100) fell victim to wolves, while 9.9 % (21,800) were lost to domestic dogs. Thus, dogs kill roughly three times as much cattle as wolves. The introduction of dog alleles into wolf populations, whether done intentionally or through natural interbreeding in the wild, leads to unpredictable behavior which could result in even more livestock loss. (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2011)

In Figure 2, the geographic distribution of wolves and wolf-dog crosses sampled across Europe and Asia by Małgorzata Pilot and colleagues is shown. The black stars represent the samples containing wolf-dog admixtures, with red dots displaying pure wolf sampling, and the pink shaded area showing overall possible wolf range. LAMP software in combination with Admixture and Structure analyses found evidence of 17 wolf-dog crosses out of the 108 total wolves sampled in Eurasia. Most of the hybrids were found in Italy, France, Russia, Iran, and Israel suggesting their potential to spread across multiple regions. (Pilot et al., 2018) Due to the small sample size in the study, the frequency of which wolf-dog genes arise through Europe and Asia cannot be directly calculated. However, the results still provide evidence for the potential geographic spread of wolf-dog crosses throughout a landscape.

Discussion

Naturally, wolves avoid human contact. This is due to the mass extermination of wolves that nearly lead to their extinction (Mech and Boitani, 2010). Whereas one million wolves roamed the United States before the arrival of European settlers, only 300 remained by 1960 (Mech and Boitani, 2010). The wolves that survived were the ones that learned how to avoid humans and thus passed on their behavior onto subsequent generations. Now, wolves are cautious and skeptical of people and will start to run away if they detect the presence of humans. Dogs, on the other hand, are the opposite; actively seeking human attention. Mixing of these two animals can lead to a random outcome in behavior, with varying degrees of combination of the respective character traits. Consequently, wolf-dogs tend to be very confused animals. The possibility of increasingly prominent dog character traits in wild wolves, resulting in a decreased aversion to settlements and farms and their livestock, has become a major concern for ranchers and conservationists alike.

The change in behavior that can be seen in Buko and Oreo as they grew up is often seen as wolves mature and are the main reason why most wolf-dog crosses do not make it to their third birthday when kept as pets, not meeting the expectations of their owners. The two most common ways wolf-dogs are killed by their owners are either directly through euthanasia by a veterinarian or indirectly by releasing the wolf-dog into the wild in hopes that it can use its wolf-like instincts to survive. Unfortunately, when a wolf-dog cross or wolf that grew up in captivity is released, that animal will likely turn to easy sources of prey in order to survive. This increases the amount of livestock loss due to predation, eliciting calls for extermination by ranchers and livestock owners, which are oftentimes followed by actions of governmental agencies.

According to the 2011 report done by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), dogs were found to kill nearly three times as much cattle compared to wolves. With the idea that wolves will start to lose their aversion to human settlements and farms, an increase in the percentages of cattle loss due to canine-related death is anticipated.

Conclusion

The idea of crossing a wolf and a dog to create a new pet sparks the interest of many. However, the unpredictable behaviors in these genetically modified animals may give rise to problems that are difficult to manage. The increasing number of wolf-dog crosses possess a potential for concern to livestock owners and ranchers in the United States. With the presence of dog-like personality traits in natural wolf populations, wolves may start to lose their fear of people and approach settlements and farms leading to an increase in cattle loss across the United States.