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| In remote corners of the world, away from
the later waves of European dogs that hybridized local varieties out of
existence, some of the original dogs still survive. Unlike the Carolinas,
their ancient lineage is undisputed. The most intriguing, and perhaps the
most primitive, is the New Guinea singingdog. Low-slung and muscular, weighing
about 25 pounds, with short legs, a long torso and a wide face, it is a
curiously feline dog with an ability to climb and jump that is unmatched
by any other breed-a handy trait in the sodden, jumbled forests of the
New Guinea mountains, where it can scramble up trees like a cat. The name
comes from its weird, harmonic howls, whose unearthly qualities prompted
one of the highland tribes to claim the Creator had replaced the dog's
tongue with the quill of a cassowary, a native bird. These dogs are truly
wild animals and rarely seen.
Although singing dogs have been in New Guinea for at least 4,000 years, living examples were only discovered by the outside world in the 1950s. At that time, they were classified as a separate species of wild canict, although today they are officially grouped with the domestic dog. Unfortunately, purebred singers have all but vanished from New Guinea as European dogs have moved into the highlands. Today only about a hundred exist in captivity, the descendants of a handful of vald-caught animals, and most of those have been goneutered or are too old to breed. Brisbin has a couple of pairs andhas been working closely with Janice KolerMatznick of Central Point, Oregon, an expert on singers who has founded the Primitive and Aboriginal Dog Society to promote the |
Carolina dogs share physical characteristics with primitive dogs around the world, such as (from top) the Falklands islands "wolf," the only mammal native to the islands and now extinct; the rare New Guinea singing dog; and the Australian dingo. All wild dogs are threatened by hunting, and interbreeding with domestic dogs. |
conservation of ancient canids.
As the singing dog adapted to the rigors of life in the wet forests of New Guinea, so did dogs elsewhere evolve to fit the local climate and conditions- both through natural selection and selective breeding by humans. There may have been hybridizing with wolves, coyotes and other wild canids, further stirring the genetic pot. Based on skeletal remains found at ancient village sites, it appears there were recognizably different types of domestic dogs thousands of years ago, from tiny toy-size breeds to animals with the hefi of modem mastiffs. While bones tell part of the story, they say little about a dog's outward appearance. Fortunately, in the case of early dogs in the Americas, pre-Columbian art, the accounts of early explorers and works of frontier artists fill in some of the blanks. The average Indian dog apparently looked like a dingo-with a fairly short coat, upcurved tail and upright ears. Judging from 19th-century paintings, the Iroquois raised dogs that would look at home in Brisbin's pack of Carolinas. Along the Northwest coast around Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, the Makah and Coast Salish tribes kept two breeds, both now extinct-a typical, dingo-like village dog, and a smaller, longhaired variety with a tightly curled tail raised exclusively for its fur, which was woven into blankets. Dogs in the Arctic, sub-arctic and Great Plains, on the other hand, resembled wolves, with large frames, heavy coats and shaggy tails. |
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The Carolina Dog AssociationJane Gunnel, JD, President -- jane@gforcecable.com NEW E-MAIL ADDRESSThe College of Science and Mathematics at the University of South Carolina Having Problems? Click Here To Report. |