Dogs return to the show

Abstract

Conservation The ancient dogs of Oceania include several lineages with Asian ancestry that have since evolved across the South Pacific for more than 3000 years. These include the Australian dingo, but also many less well known and mostly extinct varieties such as the New Zealand kuri. New Guinea singing dogs comprise a small, and highly inbred, population in captivity and are generally believed to be extinct in the wild. Surbakti et al. bring a ray of hope with their finding that populations of so-called highland wild dogs living at high altitudes are indeed true New Guinea singing dogs. Genomic analysis of samples collected from several dogs show that they are derived from the same lineage as the captive population but contain significantly higher levels of genetic diversity. This finding brings hope for both protection of the species in the wild and for invigorating the captive population. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10.1073/pnas.2007242117 (2020).