Citizen science facilitates first ever genetic detection of wolf-dog hybridization in Indian savannahs.

ABSTRACT: Human demographic expansion has confined wildlife to fragmented habitats, often in proximity to human-modified landscapes. Such interfaces facilitate increased interactions between feral or domesticated animals and wildlife, posing a high risk to wild species. This is especially relevant for free-ranging dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and wild canids like gray wolves (Canis lupus) and golden jackals (Canis aureus). Wolf-dog hybridization may lead to a significant reduction of specific adaptations in wolves that could result in the decline of wolf populations. Detection and genetic discrimination of hybrids between dogs and wolves are challenging because of their complex demographic history and close ancestry. Citizen scientists identified two phenotypically different-lo

SUBMITTER: Tyagi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10191802 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature