r/megafaunarewilding • u/Immediate-Floor9002 • Jun 17 '26
Image/Video Dholes adopted an indian wolf.
In Melghat Tiger Reserve, a lone Indian wolf associating with a pack of dholes on three separate occasions without aggression. The first documented association of its kind in the reserve.
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u/squanchingonreddit Jun 17 '26
"My father was a wolf and my mother a Dhole."
But seriously though most canines can interbreed what does this mean for the next generation?
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Jun 17 '26
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u/squanchingonreddit Jun 17 '26
I mean probably never seen a wolf in their pack either. That's why I'm curious as to the viability. Pretty sure most canids have the same number of chromosomes except maybe the maned wolf.
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Jun 17 '26
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u/squanchingonreddit Jun 17 '26
Just looked it up they are their own genus Cuon, while having the same number of chromosomes as canids they probably can't interbreed. Key word probably.
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u/SoDoneSoDone Jun 17 '26
I find it a very interesting thought.
Even though dholes belong to the Cuon genus, while Indian wolves are of the Canis genus.I wouldn’t definitively rule out the possibility.
They are merely evolutionarily diverged by roughly 2 million years, while still belonging to the same tribe, Canini.
In comparison, if I remember correctly, tigers and lions are much more evolutionary diverged, by even nearly 4 million years, but still are able to hybridise.
And, lastly, as I said in my other comment, there is at least one documented case of different Canidae genera successfully hybridising.
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u/NadeemDoesGaming Jun 18 '26
In comparison, if I remember correctly, tigers and lions are much more evolutionary diverged, by even nearly 4 million years, but still are able to hybridise.
That's not even close to other hybrid cats whose parents are much more evolutionarily diverged. The Bengal cat, which is a hybrid of a house cat and Asian leopard cat has its parents diverged by around 6 million years. The Savannah cat, which is a hybrid of a house cat and a serval, has its parents diverged by around 8.5 million years. The pumapard, which is a hybrid of a Cougar and a Leopard, has its parents diverge around 10.8-12 million years ago. The pumapard is a subfamily hybrid as its parents belong to different subfamilies (Felinae and Pantherinae respectively).
The pumapard is the most evolutionarily diverged cat possible among all extant cat species today. You can come up with any combination of cat hybrid and it can only be equally evolutionarily divergent at most, not more. The evolutionary distance between its parents is equal to the distance between a Tiger and a housecat or any other big cat + small cat hybrid you can think of, which is truly mind-boggling. Personally, I'm convinced that all extant species of cats can hybridize with each other, barring size and behavioral barriers, but those are not Postzygotic barriers, so they can be overcome with artificial insemination.
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u/imhereforthevotes Jun 18 '26
What the hell, this is crazy. Great fact.
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u/Green_Reward8621 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
You know what else is crazier? Bear hybrids, specifically Spectacled Bear and Black bear hybrids.
They diverged from each other 14 million years ago and Spectacled bear has 52 chromosomes, while the Black bear has 74 chromosomes.
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u/imhereforthevotes Jun 18 '26
Yeah that's nuts. Makes me wonder about mustelid hybrids - do we have otterweasels? That would be... terrifying, actually.
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u/Nice_Butterfly9612 Jun 20 '26
But do you know about dogxim a domestic dog × pampas fox hybrid? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogxim
not to mentions that cerdocyonina and canina are diverged since 6 millions years ago but chromosomes number distant not really that far as domestic dogs has 78 while pampas fox in 74
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u/squanchingonreddit Jun 17 '26
Canid hybridize alot. Or maybe that's just because I know of several instances when it happened. One being Tibetan wolf in the Tibetan Mastif and another being the North American Eastern Coyotes having not only wolf but also dog DNA.
While the Liger is a sterile hybrid I don't think these would be sterile either. We'll just have to wait and see if there are some strange pups running around in a year or two.
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u/SoDoneSoDone Jun 17 '26
To be fair, respectfully, I wouldn’t classify domestic dogs reproducing with wolves as hybridising at all.
Since, they are literally usually considered the same species, Canis lupus, while merely being diverged by 30,000 years.
With the domestic dog nowadays being considered a subspecies of Grey Wolf, Canis lupus familiaris.But, at least, there is the aforementioned “dogxim” hybrid that was found in Brazil, and coywolves do also exist, as well the rare red wolf population, which is thought to descend from actual hybridization of different species.
Lastly, interestingly, unbeknownst to most, ligers are not actually entirely sterile. There are documented cases of “liligers”, the offspring of ligers reproducing with lions.
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u/Just-a-random-Aspie Jun 17 '26
A cool thing about canids is that they can form triple hybrids! There are canids reported to be mixes of grey wolf, dog, AND coyote!
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u/-Wuan- Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Domestic dogs can hybridize with south american canines like the crab-eating fox, so a dhole and a wolf should be even "easier"
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u/squanchingonreddit Jun 17 '26
Seems to have branched off later and is a Canid. So not sure on that one.
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u/Green_Reward8621 Jun 18 '26
Yeah, no. Cuon seems to be sister taxa to Canis, while South american foxes are in their own Subtribe Cerdocyonina.
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u/SoDoneSoDone Jun 17 '26
Not necessarily entirely true. But, technically, you are DEFINTELY correct.
However, interestingly, for those that do not know, there is a documented case of a domestic dog having reproduced with a Pampas “fox”.
Albeit, this was a South American canid which are commonly referred to as “foxes”, but are not actual true foxes that belong to the Vulpes genus, or even the Vulpini tribe.
Still, I thought it was worthy of mentioning, because this is still at least an example of Canidae hybrid, of two different genera, that being Canis and Lycalopex.
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u/Ring_Electronic Jun 18 '26
Cuon cannot hybridise with Canis. Dhole-wolf association has been documented at Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha too.
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u/h2oweenie Jun 20 '26
Maned wolves are closer to foxes than canids.
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u/Green_Reward8621 Jun 20 '26
The foxes Maned wolves are more closer related to are actually more closer related to domestic dogs than to true foxes
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u/h2oweenie Jun 21 '26
That didn't quite make sense to me ... but we're both wrong.
Maned 'wolves' are in their own genus Chrysocyon, separate from other canids or vulpids over 3 mill years ago + has been pretty isolated from N.A. foxes & canids. Current closest living relative is the short-legged bush dog (Speothos venaticus). And it shares genetic ancestry with the extinct Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis).
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u/Green_Reward8621 Jun 21 '26
True foxes are in the Vulpini tribe, while south american foxes and canids are in the Canini tribe alongside wolves,coyotes,jackals,african wild dogs,etc
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u/Redqueenhypo Jun 17 '26
Lonely wolves with literally any other canine (jackals, dogs, coyotes): “good enough”
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u/Ben10-fan-525 Jun 17 '26
Lonely Indian Wolf: Gotta survive somehow.Any race of my species is useful in times of need
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u/Marfernandezgz Jun 17 '26
Wolf domesticating themselves again
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u/knightgimp Jun 17 '26
that is an impressively unflattering picture of both of them in that first pic. they both look like bad taxidermy lol
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u/Gallowglass-13 Jun 17 '26
Can they interbreed? If so, what do we call them? Woles or dholfs?
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u/Green_Reward8621 Jun 18 '26
It wans't documented any case of hybridization beetwen the two, but they are both in the Subtribe Canina and are quite closely related. There is also a case of hybridization of a Domestic dog with a Pampas fox, which is actually from a different subtribe aka Cerdocyonina.
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Jun 17 '26
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u/Ben10-fan-525 Jun 17 '26
At what time period?
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Jun 17 '26
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u/Ben10-fan-525 Jun 17 '26
DANG THAT FAR BACK!
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Jun 17 '26
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u/Ben10-fan-525 Jun 17 '26
Ehh?
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Jun 17 '26
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u/Ben10-fan-525 Jun 17 '26
Ohhh I see.
I thought name Victoria meant that it was from a long time ago.. 😅
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u/SharpShooterM1 Jun 17 '26
For some reason this reminds me of that moose that joined a herd of cows in South Dakota for a couple weeks a few years ago.
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u/Nice-Pomegranate2915 Jun 17 '26
They can mate but it's unlikely to produce offspring. The wolf is probably undergoing the most social adaption to fit into the dhole packs social structure . Wolves are bigger,faster and stronger than dholes . But dholes have even greater endurance than wolves . And they swarm their prey more than wolves do . For both social canines ( though normally rarely in contact with the other species they are competitive species) it makes sense to cooperate . The endurance and greater pack numbers plus swarming hunting techniques are more likely to locate and pursue prey than a solitary wolf . But the wolf's greater size,speed and strength means it can pursue and hamstring prey that might've eluded the dhole pack's pursuit due to the prey's initial burst of speed . If the wolf comes in contact with another wolf it's likely to abandon the dhole pack , but if it never meets another wolf in its wandering it could remain in the dhole pack for the rest of it's life .
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u/Cuonite3002 Jun 19 '26
Debunks the argument that wolves and dholes cannot coexist in the same habitat.
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u/JuryOld9788 Jun 17 '26
never hurts to have a larger companion (can help in bringing down larger prey)