A species of dog that was considered extinct for half a century was found in the mountains of Papua New Guinea

For half a century, scientists believed that the singing New Guinea dogs were extinct in the wild. It turned out,

they are alive.And they still make characteristic harmonious sounds, similar to the singing of humpback whales. In appearance, New Guinea singing dogs are very similar to Australian dingoes, only in a smaller version. The dogs differ from the dingo in behavior and morphology, and also have an unusual voice.

Since the 1970s, the New Guinea Singing Dog was considered extinct - it has not been seen in the wild since then, and only several hundred representatives of the breed have survived in captivity. 

“The New Guinea Singing Dog, as we know it, was actually developed by humans today. Eight individuals were brought to the United States from the highlands of New Guinea and crossed with each other.”

Elani Ostander, doctor from the American National Institutes of Health

At the same time, due to the small size of the population, the dogs lost some of the variations in their DNA, which also raised the question of the prospects for the survival of the breed.

Having discovered the dogs, which were described as veryNew Guinea singing dogs are similar, biologists collected samples of their blood and secretions and turned to geneticists for help. Scientists have deciphered the DNA structure of unknown dogs and compared it with the structure of the genome of New Guinea singing dogs from nurseries, as well as other representatives of the canine family. 

Analysis showed that both New Guinea breedsdogs are close relatives, and their ancestors belonged to the same species. Scientists can now re-establish the population of these predators by crossing nursery dogs with their wild relatives. Thanks to this, their gene pool can be cleared of traces of the DNA of their domesticated relatives, the New Guinea Singing Dogs can be protected from extinction, and the current population size of these animals can be estimated.

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