Scientists have confirmed the existence of an ancient dog species in one of the world’s most remote places — the mountains of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia’s Papua provinces.
The international team led by scientists from Indonesia’s University of Papua captured evidence of the New Guinea highland wild dog during a 2016 expedition to an austere, high-altitude region near the Grasberg mine, one of the world’s largest copper mines.
The discovery is the first confirmed sighting of the species in more than 40 years.
The dogs are believed likely to be the same species as the New Guinea singing dog, a wild dog that has been bred in captivity since several pairs were taken from the remote New Guinea highlands on both sides of the border in the 1950s and 1970s.
There are about 200 New Guinea singing dogs in zoos around the world, but little is known about the ancient breed famous for their unique vocalisations.
However, scientists are certain it shares ancestry with the Australian dingo — via redwolf.newsvine.com
RSS – Posts