Myslajek, R. W. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2023

Communication between wolf and domestic dog revealed from experimental scent marking

The European grey wolf (Canis lupus) and the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) share not only a common origin but also many similarities in their behavior. Due to the implementation of protection wolves repopulated large parts of Europe. The increase of wolves in human-dominated landscapes also leads to a growing potential for interactions between wolves and domestic dogs. However, these interactions between wolves and dogs are still poorly understood. Scent marking is one of the main forms of communication in canids, as is crucial for territorial marking, synchronization of reproduction, establishment of hierarchies in groups, and formation of new breeding pairs. We hypothesized that the presence of scent markings by domestic dogs in wolf territories elicits a behavioral response of wolves and therefore may interfere with natural wolf behavior. To test this, we experimentally scent-marked objects within known wolf home-ranges in the Kampinos National Park (Poland) to simulate the presence of "unknown dogs" (dog urine from outside the area) and water as a control. To test whether and how the behavioral response differs between domestic dogs and wolves we additionally created scent marks of "unknown wolves" (wolf urine from outside the area). By means of camera traps we studied the behavioral repones of local wolf families exposed simultaneously to all three scent stimuli. Our study showed that wolves (breeding pair) reacted to scent marking from "unknown dog" in 16% of cases, while an average juvenile reacted in 27% of cases. In 33% of cases, the breeding pair overmarked stimuli from an "unknown dog" and in 27% of cases mark them by ground scratching. Wolves spend significantly more time exploring and sniffing scent marks of "unknown wolves" than "unknown dogs". Our result indicates that domestic dog scent marks trigger a behavioral response in wild wolves showing that it does affect their behavior. The longer time that wolves spend on responding to wolf scent marks compared to dog scent marks indicates they can distinguish between wolf and dog scent marks, but especially inexperienced juveniles spend much time exploring dog scent marks. This suggests that the increasing occurrence of dogs inside wolf territories could affect and potentially disturb the scent-marking behavior of wolves.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2022

Genomes of the extinct Sicilian wolf reveal a complex history of isolation and admixture with ancient dogs

The Sicilian wolf represented the only population of wolves living on a Mediterranean island until the first half of the twentieth century (1930s-1960s) 1-7. Previous studies hypothesised that they remained isolated from mainland wolves from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) 8,9, until human persecutions led them to extinction 1-7. There are only seven known Sicilian wolf specimens from the 19th and 20th century preserved in museums in Italy and recent morphometric analyses assigned them to the new subspecies Canis lupus cristaldii 10. To better understand the origins of the Sicilian wolf, and its relationship to other wolf populations, we sequenced four whole genomes (3.8x-11.6x) and five mitogenomes. We investigated the relationship between Sicilian wolves and other modern breeds to identify potential admixture. Furthermore, considering that the last land-bridge between Sicily and Italy disappeared after the LGM 11, around 17 kya, we explored the possibility that the Sicilian wolf retained ancestry from ancient wolf and dog lineages. Additionally, we explored whether the long-term isolation might have affected the genomic diversity, inbreeding levels and genetic load of the Sicilian wolf. Our findings show that the Sicilian wolves shared most ancestry with the modern Italian wolf population but are better modelled as admixed with European dog breeds, and shared traces of Eneolithic and Bronze age European dogs. We also find signatures of severe inbreeding and low genomic diversity at population and individual levels due to long-term isolation and drift, suggesting also low effective population size.

genomics↗